The Huesca Congress Centre hosted the 4th National Gastroenterology and Hepatology Emergencies Course.
Organized by the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Unit of San Jorge Hospital in Huesca, the course is regarded as a yardstick by the Spanish Association of Gastroenterology (AEG) for training digestive tract specialists. The department heads of all the country's hospitals with accredited teaching programmes in this specialty send their residents to this course now regarded as a classic in digestive tract training.
The course was officially opened on 19 April by Dr Villarroel, director of San Jorge Hospital in Huesca, accompanied by Maria Jose Nasarre, representing the Official College of Doctors of Huesca, and Fernando Lafuente, the city's deputy mayor, whose institutional support, along with that of the provincial government of Huesca, has been central to the course's sustainability.
Dr. Montoro, course director and associate lecturer of the department of medicine of Saragossa University, has underlined the importance of institutional support so as to be able to continue hosting the course in Huesca, where the initiative was born.
During the course, 30 keynotes were given with the aim of teaching resident physicians how to respond to clinical conditions that might critically affect patient health. Accidental or intentional ingestion of caustic products, severe abdominal pain, gastrointestinal haemorrhaging, and complications that can occur after liver transplants are just a few of the issues addressed by acclaimed experts in each one of the sessions.
A software application allowed attendees to participate interactively in the resolution of the many clinical case studies submitted during sessions and there was a number of videoendoscopy sessions presented by leading members of the Spanish Endoscopy Association. Fermin Mearin Manrique, president of the Spanish Association of Gastroenterology and director of the digestive tract department of the Teknon medical centre in Barcelona, delivered a keynote address at 6.30pm on 20 May, entitled "Doctor-patient communication in emergency departments."
Congresos XXI, an agency with a long track record in organizing scientific events, handled the technical secretariat of the congress, to which all the resident physicians in family medicine of the hospitals of Huesca and Barbastro, as well as emergency department and intensive care unit staff and specialists, were also invited. In this way, the hospital fulfils one of the main aims of its mission, which is none other than to promote activities related to training and research, within the framework of its clear vocation to become a teaching hospital.
On 19 May, Huesca City Council held a welcome reception for resident physicians from all over Spain and treated them to a guided tour of the Provincial Museum of Huesca.
Huesca has reinforced its position as the host city for an important medical event geared to training digestive tract specialists, which has left a lasting impression all those that have attended previous editions. The event has also strengthened collaboration between Huesca City Council, the provincial government of Huesca, Fundacion Congresos of Huesca and San Jorge Hospital in a paradigmatic model of knowledge dissemination in a city that offers visitors solace, science and culture.
