Organization - Institute of Digestive and Metabolic Diseases

The Clinical Institute of Digestive and Metabolic Diseases (ICMDM) is made up of 4 services that act in a coordinated manner. It also leads 3 Units that deal with transversal care processes, in which several Institutes of the Hospital Clínic participate.

The ICMDM has five hospitalization rooms with 104 beds, an Intensive Care Unit with 14 beds, a day hospital with 10 points of patient care and the Outpatient Clinic. Diagnostic tests and therapeutic procedures are performed in the endoscopy and digestive functionalism oganizations and in the liver hemodynamics organization.

The four Services that make up the ICMDM are the following:

The three Care Process Units led by the ICMDM focus on the following diseases:

Nearly 6,000 people enter each year to receive medical or surgical treatment for a digestive or metabolic disease. At the same time, each year there are 56,000 visits to outpatient clinics and 13,000 visits to the basic healthcare areas of Barcelona-Esquerra. ICMDM professionals also carry out 7,000 visits through the Day Hospital, which allows diagnostic procedures or treatments to be carried out without the need for admission. About 15,000 examinations are performed annually in the digestive endoscopy organization and about 500 more procedures in  that of the liver hemodynamics.

The Institute works to incorporate less invasive diagnostic procedures and disease screening programs, and to enhance ambulatory care. These elements of healthcare innovation must allow excellent care to continue to be offered in a sustainable way in the future. The quality of the service offered has been accredited by external assessment agencies.

Some of the main healthcare milestones attained in recent years, as the result of the collaboration between the ICMDM services, are:

• A leading liver transplant program at the national level has been initiated, thanks to the joint work of the Hepatology Service and the General and Digestive Surgery Service.
• A comprehensive approach has been brought about for the patient with colon and rectal cancer and the patient with inflammatory bowel disease in which the Gastrointestinal Surgery and Gastroenterology Services have been key.
• Development of obesity surgical treatment programs by the Gastrointestinal Surgery and Endocrinology and Nutrition Services.
• The joint work between the Liver Oncology Unit and the General and Digestive Surgery Service has made it possible for Hospital Clínic de Barcelona to be an international leader in the treatment of primary liver tumors today.

The role of the Advanced Practice Nurse (IPA) is also being strengthened, which has made it possible to significantly improve care for people with digestive and metabolic diseases.