On Wednesday, 19 November 2014, Catalan Minister for Health Boi Ruiz officially opened the Unit for Teaching and Research in Nursing (AIDIR), a teaching- and research-focused initiative developed by the UIC and the Pere Virgili Hospital Complex. The unit is housed in the Complex’s Llevant Building and aims to serve the local community, train students in the new roles played by nurses, develop new research projects and consolidate its leadership in nursing.

The AIDIR team comprises two coordinators from the UIC, two clinical tutors, several doctors from the Pere Virgili Hospital Complex and a number of nursing students from the UIC. Together, the team will carry out interviews and nursing assessments in order to identify patients’ needs (and those of their families and/or carers) and draw up an action plan.

The unit’s efforts will focus on chronically ill patients that have been hospitalized at the Pere Virgili Hospital Complex and are suffering from multiple pathologies. It will also attend to the needs of their families and/or carers. The team intend to carry out activities to promote the patients' health, build their capacity to look after themselves and promote the development of positive behavioural, emotional and social skills.

The Pere Virgili Hospital Complex is a public corporation that was created by the Government of Catalonia and forms part of the Catalan Health Service. It has its own legal personality and is managed in accordance with private law. Located in the heart of Barcelona, between the districts of Sant Gervasi and Vallcarca, the Complex aims to provide comprehensive healthcare and make a wider range of both health and social care available to local residents.

The UIC was founded in 1997 with the commitment of offering comprehensive quality education and promoting research designed to serve society. With its close ties to the business world and international dimension, the UIC offers 13 undergraduate degrees, seven combined-honours degrees and more than 70 postgraduate programmes on its campuses in Barcelona and Sant Cugat del Vallès.

The UIC’s undergraduate degree in Nursing is taught on the Sant Cugat campus and forms part of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. The Department of Nursing ensures personalized training by maintaining a suitable ratio of staff to students and providing individual assessment. Students also have the opportunity to obtain a specialization within their degree. The Department’s willingness to embrace innovation in teaching has led to joint interdisciplinary activities with the Medical Programme, using practice areas that boast the very latest technological advances. Moreover, internships are an integral part of the curriculum from the first year onwards.