March 10, 2005

HCJB World Radio held its 18th annual Jornadas Medicas (medical conference) in Quito, Ecuador, Feb. 14-18 with more than 230 medical professionals from across Ecuador and Latin America attending in person and another 270 taking part via video conferencing. The Catholic University of Loja also broadcast parts of the conference by satellite to five other countries and on the Global Learning Network.

This was the first medical conference sponsored by HCJB World Radio-Healthcare to focus on the theme of gerontology. Ten professors from the U.S., Colombia and Ecuador shared more than 40 hours of training on "Integral Attention for the Elderly Adult."

Integral attention focuses not just on the physical but also on the social, psychological and spiritual aspects of care. Various workshops in Quito covered topics such as "How to Give Bad News" and "Evidence-Based Medicine." In addition, a workshop on evidence-based medicine was held in the southern Ecuadorian city of Loja.

The event was sponsored by HCJB World Radio's Hospital Vozandes-Quito and was cosponsored by several pharmaceutical companies. Jornadas M?dicas began in 1987 as way to provide extended training for residents studying at the 76-bed hospital. Today the focus of the conferences is continuing education for doctors outside of Hospital Vozandes-Quito with an emphasis on primary care. (HCJB World Radio)