During the event, the findings of the ten grant-winning projects were presented. The authors of the studies come from various fields of health and include geriatricians, internal medicine specialists, psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, physiotherapists, social workers and nursing assistants.

As regards the grant-winning projects, two were developed within the field of mental health (“Intensive treatment programme for borderline personality disorder and the effects of a multidisciplinary programme” and “Effects of a psycho-educational programme as a tool for improving the satisfaction of family members with the care of patients with severe mental illness”). The findings highlighted the positive impact and feasibility of a multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of patients with borderline personality disorder, and also showed that a psycho-educational programme could indeed have a positive effect on the caregivers of patients with severe mental illness.

The other eight projects explored chronic illness and social healthcare centres.In this regard, some of the most outstanding findings included:

- The importance of frailty and sarcopenia as predictors of health outcomes

- The importance of delirium in convalescence units (high prevalence and impact on health outcomes)

- The importance of cognitive impairment in the evolution of patients with femoral neck fractures

- The positive impact of comprehensive pharmaceutical care on patients admitted to social health centres with kidney failure

The remaining studies provided preliminary data and/or proposals on issues such as deep dry needling for treating spasticity in stroke patients; the indications and outcomes surrounding the use of restraints in social healthcare centres; and means of assessing the values and wishes of patients with advanced chronic disease (and the perception of family members) when making advance directives.

A detailed explanation of the studies’ findings are available here.

We would like to thank the researchers for their hard work and encourage them to continue to provide expertise in these areas.