On 24 November, the headquarters of the Hope Foundation, located in the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona, hosted the first conference aimed at promoting teaching and social services offered by the UIC Barcelona AIDIR Unit. The event, which was also streamed online, was attended by around 90 people, including students from the Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing, the heads of the Department of Nursing, as well as representatives from the Hope Foundation, an organisation for social action run by the “la Caixa” Foundation.

Lorena Moya, manager and teacher at AIDIR Ciutat Vella, was tasked with welcoming the attendees and introducing Núria Danés, director of the Hope Foundation, and Dr Cristina Monforte, vice-rector for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer and director of the Department of Nursing. Both speakers highlighted the great importance of community work and networking being led by the Foundation and which, thanks to the involvement of future UIC Barcelona nurses, can provide services and training in healthy habits to the most vulnerable members of the local community.

The community services offered by the Foundation include several workshops and health promotion activities aimed at children, adolescents, new mothers and the adult population in general, organised by Nursing students who carry out their work placement at AIDIR Ciutat Vella. Together with AIDIR Pere Virgilio, the Nursing, Teaching and Research Care Units (AIDIR) led by the Department of Nursing at UIC Barcelona promote learning through social services and help future nurses develop competences such as leadership, autonomy and teamwork.

Dr Albert Gallart, coordinator of the work placements at AIDIR Ciutat Vella and deputy director of the Department of Nursing, highlighted how projects such as AIDIR not only improve knowledge on healthy habits among the centre’s users, but they also enhance the skills acquired by students during their university education. In particular, he also pointed out how nursing leadership had increased among students who completed their work placements in AIDIR Units, in comparison to those who had undertaken them at a primary care facility. 

The Conference drew to a close with testimonies of students who shared their experience at AIDIR Ciutat Vella, highlighting “personal growth”, “the importance of nursing professionals in the social sphere” and “the relationship between research and teaching when carrying out health promotion activities”, as the most important lessons they had learned.