[Current and future competencies for public health professionals].

Objectives: To identify current and future competencies (managers and technicians) for public health professionals in Catalonia (Spain).

Methods: Qualitative research with a phenomenological approach. Between November 2009 and February 2010, 31 semistructured interviews were completed with public health professionals working in Catalonia.

[Identification of occupational risks associated with diseases suspected to be of possible occupational origin seen in the National Health System].

In an earlier study, we identified 26 diseases of possible occupational origin, seen in different settings within the national health system in Catalonia. In this literature review we identify those occupational risk factors most strongly associated with these pathologies. After applying inclusion/exclusion criteria to 754 reviews, meta-analyses and/or practice guidelines, 37 articles remained that were rated for study quality by 3 reviewers.

[Community health: integration of primary care and public health competencies. SESPAS report 2010].

Primary care and public health have run on parallel tracks with scarce points of contact or coordination in community action to improve the population's health. If community health is defined as the "health of individuals and groups in a defined community, determined by the interaction of personal and familial factors and by the socioeconomic-cultural and physical environments" and of community intervention is defined as local action to improve community health, primary care and public health are the key players to implement this aim. However, their actions should take into account other local actors, including the population.

[Planning criteria based on types of health, social health and public healthcare services: trends in the development and adaptation of services and healthcare integration].

This article points out the trends established by the Health Map of Catalonia for types of services (primary healthcare, specialised acute care, mental health care, social healthcare, emergency care and home healthcare). The drawing up of planning criteria for the 2015 horizon includes the identification of a strategic vision for the healthcare model, the revision of healthcare processes and the adaptation to demand, the estimation of the health care capacity required and the proposal of territorial coverage objectives. Also included are planning guidelines for health services, in the context of ongoing change.

[Semicircular lipoatrophy: a new occupational disease].

In February 2007, an outbreak of 200 cases of a rare condition called semicircular lipoatrophy was notified by a company of Barcelona with about 1,000 workers. In September of that year, more that 600 cases had been notified in other workplaces, most of them in Barcelona, but also in other Spanish cities. A case-control study identified the low indoor relative humidity and working tables with thin edges as risk factors.