The closing ceremony for the Postgraduate Degree in Patient Advocacy, which took place on UIC Barcelona’s Sant Cugat Campus, featured Toni Mora, the University’s vice-rector for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer; María Dolores Navarro, director of the Albert J. Jovell Institute for Public Health and Patients; and David Elvira, director of the Catalan Health Service.
The participants in the second edition of this postgraduate degree, the first of its kind in Spain and Europe, included professionals from the area of patient organisations, healthcare, management and health. In the words of María Dolores Navarro, “It is vitally important that both the people working to defend patients’ rights and the patients themselves have the necessary training to make a positive contribution in the health system”. In this regard, “patients play a crucial role in the decision-making process and need the tools to become active participants. The Albert J. Jovell Institute has sound experience in this field, and that is why they have the full institutional support of UIC Barcelona”, remarked Toni Mora, vice-rector for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer at the University.
Special guest David Elvira, director of the Catalan Health Service, stressed “the importance of creating an ecosystem that makes the public health system more efficient not only in terms of production, but also in terms of intangible aspects such as empathy and personal treatment”. Elvira concluded his intervention by urging the postgraduate students to use their new competences to help lead the change within the field of health.
The Postgraduate Degree in Patient Advocacy, set up by the Albert J. Jovell Institute for Public Health and Patients at UIC Barcelona, recently received the “Best Ideas 2016” Award, which Diario Médico gives to innovative healthcare initiatives, specifically, in the category of Patronage and Solidarity.
