The event was chaired by D. Francisco Mercado Romero, Vice Dean of Innovation and International Relations of the Faculty. The event was also attended by Ms. Yolanda Pérez Cortés, Postgraduate Academic Director of the URJC and Ms. Carina Escobar Manero, President of the Platform of Patient Organizations, Professor María Madariaga Muñoz, godmother of this fourth promotion , together with María Rosa López Garrido, representative of the students, were in charge of saying a few words assessing the experience of their participation in this pioneering initiative in the Community of Madrid.

This is a continuing education course aimed at patients and caregivers, with a duration of 90 hours divided into 2 training modules: a common general module (50 hours) made up of contents on anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, psychology and healthy habits, and three specific modules (40 hours per module) on chronic pain, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The student must take the common general module and choose one of the specific modules.

According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), chronic diseases currently account for 63% of deaths worldwide and are responsible for 75% of public health spending. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and implement effective strategies to face the challenge of chronicity.

In this context, the training of chronic patients and their caregivers becomes a fundamental pillar of the system, capable of transforming active patients (patients who care about their health and take responsibility for obtaining the best possible health care and controlling the evolution of their disease) in expert patients (patients with an advanced degree of knowledge in the self-care of their pathology).

Therefore, the fundamental objective of this course is to carry out a training program on the main chronic pathologies aimed at patients, caregivers or any interested citizen.

Professors Carlos Goicoechea García and Francisco Gómez Esquer, directors of the course, closed the event highlighting the high degree of motivation of the students during their training and thanking the institutions and sponsors who have made this fourth edition possible.