The Foundation headquarters, located in Barcelona’s Ciutat Vella district, hosted once again the conference aimed at UIC Barcelona Nursing students to raise awareness on the teaching and social service work done by the University's AIDIR Units. 

Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of “la Caixa” Esperança Foundation's creation, Director Nuria Danés also stressed the importance of Nursing degree students doing work placements in the AIDIR Ciutat Vella Unit as it allows them to learn first-hand about the reality of people at risk of social exclusion in the district. She also noted the benefits of promoting healthy habits among this population.

The impact of the AIDIR Units was also evident during the conference in their role of empowering future nurses with fundamental competencies for the profession such as leadership, empathy, resilience, teamwork or compassion. This was seen in the presentation given by Lorena Moya, AIDIR Ciutat Vella coordinator, and Eira Bejarano, AIDIR Pere Virgili coordinator, of the tasks performed by students during their work placements in these two units and how, thanks to their commitment and involvement, they contributed to health promotion among AIDIR Ciutat Vella users at risk of social exclusion and to promotion of autonomy and health management among AIDIR Pere Virgili patients.

Albert Gallart, coordinator of the research group in Health Education at UIC Barcelona, as well as of the research at AIDIR Ciutat Vella and assistant director of the Department of Nursing, showed how the Nursing Care, Teaching and Research Unit (AIDIR) not only provide learning through social service, but enhance the skills acquired by students during their university education. Specifically, he showed how nursing leadership had increased among students who had done work placements in one of these two AIDIR units compared to students who had done their work placements in a primary care centre.

This was confirmed by the testimonies of Anna Casé, Joselyn Samaniego, María Morillas and Carla Pérez, students who did their work placements at AIDIR Ciutat Vella and AIDIR Pere Virgili. With their interventions, the students also pointed out that “the work placements allowed us to see the patient in a comprehensive way and become aware of the essence of nursing: caring for people in every aspect.”

This year, the second part of the conference included group activities with several service-learning dynamics in which all the students participated. This session ended with the presentation of the results of the two best projects done during these activities.