VALENCIA (EP). The physical and mental health of children is the “backbone” of the 38th edition of the National Congress of the Spanish Society of Out-of-hospital Pediatrics and Primary Care (SEPEAP)which is held in Valencia and in which more than a thousand doctors have confirmed their attendance.
The event, which is held from October 17 to 19, has theoretical-practical training activities in different dynamic formats, taught by experts from the national scene, as indicated by the organization in a statement.
The congress was presented this Friday with the president of the organizing committee of this edition, Ignacio Manrique Martínez; the president of SEPEAP, Christopher Colonel Rodriguez; the president of the Prandi Foundation, Fernando García-Sala Viguer; the vice president of SEPEAP, Belén Aguirrezabalaga González; the secretary of SEPEAP, Mª del Carmen Sánchez Jiménez; and the president of the scientific committee of Congress, Valero Sebastian Barberan.
In the year in which the organization celebrates its four decades, Ignacio Manrique has maintained that it will be “a top event, with the most recognized experts in Spain in each area, to offer training and updating of the highest quality to the more than a thousand pediatricians who will attend to the event”, to which he added that on this occasion they have included “new formats, such as the escape room or the National Pediatric Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Championship”, which he predicts that “without a doubt, they will be a success”.
More than a hundred top-level experts have traveled from all over the peninsula to offer a panoramic view of the profession and update knowledge to attendees. Topics such as the importance of awareness and training on chronic pain will be discussed, practical training will be offered to tackle pediatric daily life, and innovative formats will be used to give the event maximum dynamism.
In this sense, Cristóbal Coronel has stressed that the Congress will allow pediatricians to learn about tools that they did not have for a long time. “But now we have them accessible and they require our documentation and updating, such as rapid tests, which will greatly facilitate the pediatrician’s work; knowing new pathologies, such as those related to mental health or children’s access to pornography , and raise awareness and educate about certain topics, such as chronic pain, while we must prepare parents to supervise and control,” he noted.
This is the case of the problems of adolescent education related to the sexual sphere (sexting, pornography, cybersex), as well as the use of screens by minors, which will coexist with other relevant current issues such as vaccination of the flu, which, in some communities, such as Valencia, has already started.
Along these lines, Fernando García-Sala has pointed out that “we can never forget” the issue of vaccination. “We have to always be attentive to continue with the very important percentage of vaccination that we have in Spain. We are achieving a universal schedule for the entire country, and, in addition, there are already vaccines that parents previously had to pay for and now almost 99 percent “percent of them are funded, which is excellent news for parents,” he said.
“For us, the introduction of the bronchiolitis and the intranasal flu vaccine has been a great success because we have had very few bronchiolitis, both last year and this year, and now that we have started with children under 5 years of age with the intranasal flu vaccine. flu is a fantastic improvement because we can avoid pricking children and dramatically lower the rates of childhood flu,” added Ignacio Manrique.
Continuous training
For her part, Belén Aguirrezabalaga has highlighted that the training that will be provided takes into account the training needs at any time in the professional life of the pediatrician, from MIR training to senior pediatrician.
“New developments in the most common subjects in the consultation will be discussed, new pathologies and the basic concepts will be reviewed. We therefore cover complete training, with a very tight program from which everyone will surely get the most out of for daily practice.” the attendees,” he explained.
In relation to the expectations that the 38th Congress has raised at the national level, Fernando García-Sala has stated that they are “very happy.” “We are going to far exceed the attendance of pediatricians at our National Congress once the Covid-19 pandemic is over,” he stated.
In this way, Ignacio Manrique explained that “the interest that the presentations have aroused is so great that the places were filled in less than four days”, to which he added that this Thursday they gave the first dermatology talk in a room for 400 people and “the interest was so high that people were left out.”
“The same thing happened this morning with the dermoscopy workshop. Without a doubt, Valencia will become the national capital of Pediatrics from October 17 to 19,” he highlighted.
“Need to invest in primary care”
For her part, María del Carmen Sánchez has expressed “the need for public health” to invest in Primary Care Pediatrics. “We are very much left in the hands of God and it is the gateway to public health,” he lamented.
“Without Primary Care pediatricians, where more than 80 percent of the pathologies that children present on a daily basis are resolved, the public system would be greatly affected. A serious investment is necessary to bring us up to the level of the average Europe,” he claimed.
However, he has maintained that Spain is one of the countries “with the best Primary Care”, since “in other countries Pediatrics is subject to hospital care.” “They do not have the advantage of having Primary Care: pediatricians specialized in MIR and updated with courses and conferences, which are all fully booked,” he concluded.