Chronic illnesses and dependence not only have a direct impact on patients’ health and quality of life and on those of their families, but also on the health-care system. In this sense, society needs new management policies and professionals trained to deal with chronic illness. The Higher School of Health Sciences of the TecnoCampus Mataró-Maresme, a centre ascribed to the UPF, is therefore giving the new University masters degree in Chronicity and Dependence along with the UAB. The Fundació TicSalut, the Consorcio Sanitario del Maresme and the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona are taking part in this project.

Italy, Holland and Poland, along with Catalonia, are working on the CLEAR (Clinical Leading Environment for the Assessment and validation of Rehabilitation protocols in homecare) project. This is a step forward in establishing a telerehabilitation service so that the doctors can design, develop and implement clinical protocols to assist patients in comfortable surroundings, such as their home. The Fundació TicSalut, the Fundación Instituto Catalán del Envejecimiento and the Fundación Privada Instituto de Neurorrehabilitación Guttmann are the Catalan institutions working on the CLEAR project, which is intended to contribute to and, at the same time, to standardise eHealth services in the European Union.

One of the Fundació TicSalut’s areas of action is to take part in European projects to promote the implementation of new health technologies. Home Sweet Home is particularly noteworthy as an initiative financed by the European Commission intended to help the elderly to organise their daily activities and to administer the household with domestic robotics, videoconferencing and an alarm system in an economically sustainable manner. This allows carers to remotely assess the capacity of the elderly to remain independent. Along with Belgium, Italy, Ireland and Germany, Catalonia contributes to Home Sweet Home with the clinical collaboration of Badalona Assistance Services.

In which weeks of the season was influenza most widespread in Catalonia? Which age group was most virulently affected by enteritis in early 2012? You can find the answers at DiagnostiCat, a Web tool from the Catalan Health Institute (ICS) with data and graphs updated each week that the epidemic lasts. The Web portal includes information concerning the records gathered by the Clinical Primary Attention Station (eCAP), the computerised medical record used in the ICS primary healthcare centres. Amongst other things, it is possible to consult all of the visits and diagnostic rates of illnesses classified in the CIM10 by healthcare region.

The professionals of the La Riera Primary Healthcare centre in Mataró and the Geriatric Unit of the Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol have planned a research to assess the utility of a game console, in this case the Nintendo Wii, in improving balance among the elderly. In the hypothesis of this project, which was awarded the 12,000 Euros of the 13th call for help of the IDIAP Jordi Gol, it is said that the console can help the elderly lose their fear of falling. The first conclusions point to the therapeutic use of the Wii at home giving comfort in use and saving healthcare expenditure.

The meeting point for all healthcare decision-makers. This is the first edition of the MIHealthForum, which will be held at the Barcelona Congress Palace on the coming 24 and 25 May. This pioneering forum provides four areas in which Catalan and international professionals, researchers and entrepreneurs will share points of view: clinical knowledge and innovation management, ICTs for transforming the health system, innovation in managing healthcare organisations and the sustainability of the healthcare system. The forum has already started on Twitter with the hashtag #MIHealthForum.

The Control of Smoker Patients (Control de Pacients Fumadors / CP-F) is a computer application that helps people to give up smoking. Developed by the Hesoft Group, which received one of the Bancaja Awards for Young Entrepreneurs 2010, the software allows the doctor to view the patient’s medical record and see graphs showing the evolution of their psychological state. Furthermore, the CP-F develops warnings and personalised suggestions about treatments, drugs and diets that are sent to patients by SMS. The aim is therefore to minimise the chance of relapse in the processes of giving up smoking. The program has been working in the Hospital Santa Maria in Lerida for ten months and currently boasts 230 patients treated and over 90% satisfied.

One click, a printer connected to the computer and a decision: these are the only requirements for getting an organ donor card from the Health Department and the Catalan Transplant Organisation. Through its Virtual Process Office, the Government of Catalonia provides those who wish with a PDF document that has to be filled in and in which the bearer states their wish for any part of their body that is suitable for transplants after their death to be used to help other people. The donor card does not commit the applicant and the holder can get rid of it at any time.

At the beginning of 2012, the Twitter social network already has 100 million active users creating discussion and sharing knowledge in 140 characters. Health professionals are not ignorant of this and exchange ideas there thanks to the hashtags with which Twitter identifies the key words that become links in its search engine. The Healthcare Hashtag Project is a social initiative that gathers the hashtags most widely used in the healthcare twittersphere, and enables users to watch conversations on questions of interest to them. Furthermore, you will also find the hashtags of the latest medical conferences such as #ideagoras or #doctors20, in order to be able to follow their repercussions around the world in real-time.

Most video games are designed to entertain and even to help in learning. But what about to give therapy? The Playmancer project financed by the European Commission, the CIBER of the Instituto Carlos III and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation appeared in 2007 in order to create a serious videogame as a therapeutic tool for patients with mental illnesses such as the pathological gambling and food disorders. Playmancer manages to transport players to a three-dimensional world and suggests challenges based on their medical record. The project received the European Prize for the Best Serious Game in the category of Health at the Fun&Serious Game Festival in Bilbao, and the Prize for one of the Best Health Ideas 2011 from the Diario Médico journal.

Although giving birth is one of the most positive experiences in a woman's life, not all mothers experience it in the same way. Postnatal depression is something widespread around the world, and this link is a collection of the 50 best international digital newspapers to help them get over it. In the list presented by the Web www.spinabifidainfo.com, you will find everything from blocks with communities and discussion forums, points of view from expert doctors, to first person accounts of the ups and downs caused by postnatal depression, and also hope for those who suffer from it. 9th National Meeting of radiology management and quality (Barcelona) This year, the National meeting of the SEGECA will be held in Barcelona on 10 and 11 November in the El Casal del Metge building. The meeting will bring together professionals from different areas related to image diagnosis and healthcare management, and will be supported by Dr. Guanyabens, the General ICT Coordinator of the Ministry of Health of the Government of Catalonia. This year's programme includes talks and discussions on professional development, ethics and communication, measures related to the crisis, organizational challenges and the future of the radiological speciality.

The meeting of the International network of WHO-FIC centres will be held from 29 October to 4 November 2011. This year the motto of the meeting is "Health information is vital", because the intention is to highlight the importance of good information in service efficiency and the global need to have valid, reliable data. It will be a good opportunity for the different groups to discuss and share the best initiatives. Furthermore, this year it will receive contributions from the Fundació TicSalut and AIAQS, with three posters. Journal of Participatory Medicine The UOC’s PSINET research group recommends this open digital journal promoted by the Society for Participative Medicine. In addition to stressing the main innovations, the publication includes opinions, accounts from patients, notes on innovation and a multimedia observatory with some podcasts.