Location: Assembly Hall and Teaching Classrooms of Dr. Balmis General University Hospital in Alicante
Date: June 9, 2026 (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)
Format: In-person
Target audience: Primary Care Family Physicians and Nursing staff, as well as residents in Family and Community Medicine and EIR in Family and Community Care
Objective: update the management of the most prevalent respiratory diseases in Primary Care.
The Primary Care Directorate of the Alicante–General Hospital Health Department and the Pulmonology Service of the Doctor Balmis General University Hospital, together with the Alicante Institute for Health and Biomedical Research, are organizing the training event “9th Update Conference on Respiratory Pathology in Pulmonology–Primary Care” under the motto “If we work together, we all breathe better”.
The conference, which will be held on June 9, 2026, aims to update the management of the most prevalent respiratory pathologies and is aimed at Primary Care professionals. The program is structured into two blocks: a theoretical session held in the assembly hall from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and a practical session consisting of four workshops that will take place in the hospital’s Teaching Classrooms from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The 9th Pulmonology–Primary Care Conference is the continuation of a training and scientific update program designed from the outset to improve coordination between Primary Care and Pulmonology. Its main objective is to provide comprehensive clinical management of respiratory patients, without disruptions in the continuity of care for the main respiratory pathologies.
- Cross-cutting approach: It addresses the patient in all their complexity, aiming to improve healthcare coordination among the main respiratory demands of patients, both acute (community-acquired respiratory infections, respiratory failure) and chronic (chronic cough, COPD or asthma). It will include collaboration with other key specialties such as Preventive Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Pharmacy, and Microbiology.
- Practical training: The lectures and sessions in the program use dynamic presentations delivered by renowned experts to streamline the updating of healthcare professionals. They are structured in short time slots (10–15 minutes) with direct messages and clear ideas, focused on daily practice.
- Research and innovation: The aim is for this initiative to become a driving force for the development of projects from Primary Care, under the umbrella of ISABIAL.
The aim of these Primary Care–Pulmonology collaboration conferences is to continue with annual sessions, open to all Health Departments and Primary Care Health Centers in the province of Alicante, focusing on the most common reasons for consultation related to respiratory problems.
These conferences will be complemented by others dedicated to specific pathologies, involving multiple specialties and requiring specific update sessions. In these sessions, critical topics for all levels of care will be addressed, such as:
- Advances in diffuse interstitial lung diseases (ILDs)
- Pulmonary hypertension. Management and early detection in consultations. Provincial Reference Unit.
- Smoking cessation treatments.
- Venous thromboembolic disease
- Bronchial cancer. Solitary pulmonary nodule.
- Pleural effusion.
- Neuromuscular diseases. ALS (Provincial Reference Unit)
- Sleep disorders.
- Management of respiratory failure. Advances in home respiratory therapies.
- Palliative care in respiratory diseases.
- Respiratory infections. Importance of new respiratory viruses
- Occupational pathology
- New treatments in respiratory diseases.
- Indications for pulmonology diagnostic techniques.
- Protocol-based management of the main clinical problems: cough, dyspnea, hemoptysis, chest pain, etc.
- Thoracic and interventional radiology.
- Role of clinical laboratories (Analysis, Microbiology, Immunology, Pathological Anatomy) in the diagnosis of respiratory pathology.
- Management of respiratory urgency and emergency at different levels of care.
Chair: Dr. Mª Belén Colás Martínez – Dr. Cleofé Fernández Aracil
Vice-Chair: Dr. Elena Algárate Linares – Dr. Luis Hernández Blasco
Primary Care Operational Coordination: Ms. Carmen Llabata, Dr. Arancha Oliver, Dr. Lucía Alfonso
Scientific Lead: Dr. Luis Hernández Blasco
Logistics Lead: ISABIAL
Communications Lead: Ms. Beatriz Hortigüela Villaverde / Patricia Pérez Pablo
Technical Secretariat: Ms. Mª José Soria. ISABIAL
Dr. Cleofé Fernández Aracil. Pulmonology specialist. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Dr. Pedro Garcinuño. Microbiology Staff Physician. Doctor Balmis General University Hospital Alicante
Dr. Mª José Soler. Pulmonology specialist. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Dr. Esperanza Merino. Head of the UEI Section. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Dr. Lucía Martínez Gauffin. Admissions Department specialist. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Dr. Arancha Oliver. Family and Community Medicine specialist. Coordinator at Campoamor Health Center.
Dr. Alfredo Candela. Pulmonology Staff Physician. Doctor Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Dr. José Manuel León. Pulmonology Staff Physician. Doctor Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Dr. Elia Gómez Merino. Pulmonology specialist. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Dr. Mª Belén Colás Martínez. Medical Director of Primary Care. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Dr. M. Carmen Marín. Family and Community Medicine specialist. Coordinator at Parque Lo Morant Health Center.
Dr. Irene Rodríguez. Pulmonology specialist. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Dr. Manuel Valdivia. Preventive Medicine Staff Physician. Doctor Balmis General University Hospital Alicante
Ms. Carmen Llabata. Director of Nursing for Primary Care. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Dr. Melody Huertas. Family and Community Medicine specialist. Coordinator at La Florida Health Center.
Dr. Mar García Rodenas. Pulmonology specialist. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Dr. Elena Algarate. Family and Community Medicine specialist. Deputy Medical Director. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Dr. Miguel Pastor. Family and Community Medicine Staff Physician. Doctor Balmis General University Hospital Alicante
Dr. Luis Hernández Blasco. Head of Pulmonology Department. Doctor Balmis General University Hospital Alicante
Ms. Ángela Pascual. Specialist Pharmacist in Hospital Pharmacy. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Ms. Inmaculada Villena. Nursing staff, Respiratory Function Testing Laboratory. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Ms. Montserrat Garcia. Nursing staff, Respiratory Function Testing Laboratory. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Dr. Santos Asensio Sánchez. Pulmonology Staff Physician. Doctor Balmis General University Hospital Alicante
Ms. Inmaculada Lassaletta. Nursing staff, Respiratory Function Testing Laboratory. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Ms. Patricia Lesende Mus. Nursing Supervisor, Pulmonology. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Dr. Juan Arenas. Head of Cardio-Thoracic Radiology Section. Doctor Balmis General University Hospital Alicante
Adolfo Rodríguez. Physiotherapy. LINDE
Ms. Irune Torregrosa. Nursing staff TRDs. Dr. Balmis General University Hospital Alicante.
Sponsors
