The event included a conference by nurse and researcher Carmen Sarabia, focusing on excellence and management, as well as the presentation of the XIX Vicenta López Echevarría Awards for nursing works completed in 2025. The artistic segment of the program was performed by the Bizkaia Nursing Association Choir.
The event marked the farewell of the current Board of Directors of the association, after years of service to this professional collective, the largest in Euskadi. The board expressed gratitude for the trust and support, highlighting key achievements such as promoting continuous training, advancements in the Basque language promotion and digitalization of the Association, and providing legal and psychological support to professionals. They also emphasized the institution's financial recovery, social welfare actions, and the creation of a confidential support program for nurses with addictions.
“"The promotion of continuous training and advancements in the Basque language promotion and digitalization of the Association have been among the main achievements of the Board."
Furthermore, the Bizkaia Nursing Association has promoted research as a strategic line, supported various professional committees and associations, strengthened the fight against intrusion, and fostered the historical memory of the profession with a book on over a hundred years of nursing in Bizkaia. It also highlighted its work in health education aimed at the public.
The Association's leadership also mentioned some of the demands made to date, such as achieving Category A1 status with the Administration, nurse prescribing, and the progressive attainment of nursing specialties. They cited received recognitions, including the Gold Medal of the City of Bilbao and the Gold Medal of the General Council of Nursing, and noted tributes organized by their collective, such as the Burdin Arimak-Almas de Acero monument, dedicated to those who preceded them in nursing, and the Viñals Award to the Bilbao City Council.
The first prize of the XIX Vicenta López Echevarría Awards, worth 4,000 euros, was awarded to the work titled: El viaje con las heridas crónicas. Recorrido asistencial de pacientes con heridas crónicas, complejas o de difícil cicatrización, atendidos en unidades especializadas. The second prize, worth 2,000 euros, went to the research Autoeficacia en lactancia materna: claves para su fortalecimiento. Estudio descriptivo. The third prize, worth 1,000 euros, was awarded to the research Inteligencia artificial aplicada a los cuidados: desarrollo de un modelo predictivo de un parto pretérmino basado en aprendizaje automático desde la práctica clínica de la matronería.
