Medical Imaging at the University and Polytechnic Hospital La Fe

The management of projects includes creating a team of people who can plan, organise, direct and control different teaching and research departments in healthcare. Clinical management has proven to be an exemplary model of how integration and participation in work can lead to improved satisfaction in both professionals and the public, as well as an improvement in the quality of results pursued by the public healthcare system.

In the Medical Imaging department, we strive to provide a European benchmark of excellence in the quality of our care, teaching, innovation and research. Although the public healthcare system has achieved a lot, there are still threats that prevent necessary efficient and quality care; essentially deriving from lack of compliant spending, bureaucracy, and it’s flexibility lacking structures, and dissatisfaction of professionals. In order to address these conflicts, we need to use all of our resources and connections possible, direct organisation and decision making processes towards the needs of patients, put forward organisational models in order to visualise organisational responsibilities, orientate ourselves towards efficiency models whilst making decisions and using resources, and to involve professionals in these processes.

Despite radiological examinations and the gathering of such related information counting for a large percentage of what we do, other activities are becoming more important, such as: advising which radiological trials are the most effective, efficient and suitable for each clinical situation, informing patients about the risks of examinations, the undertaking of therapeutic procedures guided by images, evaluations of the effectiveness of treatments and last but not least, the follow-up care of patients. Participating in multidisciplinary conferences is also becoming more important – whether it be in order to receive consultation on a case, to become integrated in decision-making committees (whom revise diagnostics and treatments of a specific pathology), or to evaluate already established or emerging technologies.

Healthcare shouldn’t continue to focus on trying to combine separate diagnostics and therapies, but should be approaching each patient and their particular clinical needs in an individually, yet coordinated way. It is important to participate in all stages of the healthcare cycle. This ranges from prevention, diagnosis, phenotyping, treatment, and the follow-up care of an illness, to understanding its biology and physiopathology, and what the most efficient imaging strategies for analysis are, by being able to effectively apply essential biomedical imaging knowledge.

Dr Luis Martí Bonmartí
Director del Área de Imagen Médica