On Thursday, 29 April, on behalf of the UIC Barcelona DECIDE Chair the seminar Prácticas innovadoras en el liderazgo enfermero para la atención integral del paciente crónico en contexto COVID-19 (Innovative Practices in Nursing Leadership for Comprehensive Chronic Patient Care in the context of COVID-19) was organised. The meeting brought together nurses and health professionals who wanted to learn about new practices carried out in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on primary care and integrated care. The winners of the DECIDE 2020 Awards, sponsored by Boehringer, were also announced at this event.

Dr José Ramón Martínez, a nurse and president of the Spanish Association of Community Nursing, was in charge of welcoming the meeting, highlighting in his speech the value of promoting awards that recognise the role of nursing professionals. Then doctoral candidate Cristina Rey, a nurse and researcher at the Research Support Unit of the Catalan Health Institute, gave the inaugural speech entitled “Research and nursing leadership in primary care”.

The projects awarded in the first edition of the DECIDE Awards were then unveiled and the award-winning authors had the opportunity to present their initiatives to the attendees.

The award for the most innovative initiative in professionals was for Silvia Cilleruelo, a primary care nurse and tutor of Community and Family EIR, with her project Ejercicio terapéutico en EPOC (Therapeutic Exercise and COPD). The aim of this project is to improve patient follow-up, train fellow nurses and develop health education materials in all aspects of the disease.

Likewise, the second prize in this category was for Isabel Garcia, nurse and assistant to the Management of EAP Vinyets, with a project entitled Lideratge i homogeneïtzació en l’abordatge a la cronicitat, (Leadership and homogenisation when tackling chronicity), the primary objective of the consultation is to standardise the EAP nursing practice in order to unify the procedures of organisations that use different practices for the same process.

In the category of best proposal with results, the winner was Clara Sendra, nursing home management of Girona 4, for the Management Project of Gestores de Residències: Un projecte d’innovació i compromís de la infermería d’Atenció Primària a la provincia de Girona (Care Home Management: An innovative and committed project in the province of Girona). In his presentation, Sendra announced the figure of care home managers as a pilot project throughout Catalonia and all the functions that have been undertaken during these months of pandemic.

Second prize in this category was for Elena Lopez, Director of the Cap de Corbera de Llobregat, with his project Seguimiento proactivo de Enfermería a PCC en un equipo semirural en tiempos de COVID (Proactive Nursing Follow-up in Public Healthcare Centre in a semi-rural team at the time of COVID). Through this project, the author's main objective was to enhance person-centered care, increasing the identification of complex chronic patients and vulnerable patients.

Access the video of the session .