León, Gto., December 22, 2017.- The Medical Specialties of Spinal Surgery, Family Medicine and Work and Environmental Medicine, of the University of Guanajuato (UG), were certified by the National Program of Quality Postgraduates (PNPC) of the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT) by positioning as the first to obtain this accreditation within the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS).

The Specialty in Family medicine is the first time to enter the PNPC, in the development stage, for two years. This program is considered as first level attention since they consider not only the health problem of the patient, but also addresses the impact it has in the family, with a preventive focus.

In an interview, Sandra Guadalupe Domínguez Ortega, M.D., head professor of the specialty, informed that currently they have 67 resident doctors; she also mentioned that to achieve these evaluation processes, a great motivation and improvement actions are required for two years, in which the academic quality is considered essential from both professors and students, they ask to be certified by the Council of Family Medicine, and have scientific production and the attendance to national and international forums.

She reminded the publication of the book "El médico familiar ante la medicina tradicional", published in 2014, was one of the many factors that allowed the accreditation.

The venue of this specialty is found in IMSS, Family Medicine Unit (UMAE) 49 in the city of Celaya, Guanajuato.

Likewise, Luis Gerardo Marín Álvarez, third year resident of Family Medicine, expressed that "the family medicine has improved throughout the years, specially on the training in prevention; in Celaya, each time we innovate more educational strategies for the new medical residents (...) it is not like before, that the professor arrived, gave the class and the other listened; Celaya is a venue where the resident innovates."

In the same accreditation stage, we find the Specialty of Work and Environmental Medicine, which is taught at the IMSS Zone General Hospital, Family Medicine No. 21, of the city of León, Guanajuato.

Martha Angélica Gasca Barajas, M.D., head professor of this program, commented that these specialists are responsible for the workers with a preventive focus.

She referred that in the companies, it is vital for these doctors to protect the workforce minimizing the damage and risk factors to which they are exposed. She added that the work done by these specialists is multidisciplinary.

In the case of Spinal Surgery, this is the second year it receives the distinction for three years, also in a development stage. It is important to mention that this program is considered an indirect entry, since it requires to have a previous specialty such as neurosurgery or traumatology or orthopedics.

José Nicolás Mireles Cano, M.D., head professor of this course, mentioned that the venue of this program is at the Regional Hospital of High Specialty of the Bajío (HRAEB) and that amongst its graduates are two students from Nicaragua.

Currently, the three students that are part of this program have a maintenance grant from CONACyT and have been benefited with mixed grants of international mobility, such is the case of the two-month internship that the residents have made in the city of Seoul, Korea, with the support from the Direction of Support for Research and Postgraduate (DAIP) from UG.

The head professor of each specialty recognized the work and commitment of Dr. Bertha Isabel Arévalo Rivas, Coordinator of Medical Specialties of Campus León of UG who actively collaborated in the focus group for the review of the reference framework of CONACyT for the evaluation of the Medical Specialties.

Worthy to mention that Campus León of UG, for the second year in a row, is the evaluating center of Medical Specialties in a national level. In total, they have 21 specialties from which 13 are PNPC certified.