Read the Conversation
EF: Could you elaborate on the different CEMTRO Clinics, their locations, and their specialized areas?
PG: We are a general hospital, but trauma and orthopedics are the most important areas we focus on. Our specialized hospital in Madrid has 96 beds, and we handle fifty-two thousand trauma emergencies yearly, more than any other hospital in Madrid. We have two other centers in Madrid. CEMTRO II is a day center dedicated to orthopedics and urology. CEMTRO III is for dermatology, ophthalmology, and other specialties. Fisio Club & Sport is a center in Madrid dedicated to patient solutions such as manual therapy, osteopathy, physiotherapy, and rehabilitation. It’s an innovative project that provides a comprehensive all-around service to the patients, accompanying them from the moment they sustain an injury all the way through their recovery.
EF: Empathy, honesty, and staying close to the patient are crucial values to CEMTRO Clinic. How do you create an environment of empathy and intimacy and transmit it to the patient?
PG: We are considered a center of reference by many in our sector in Spain, not only in trauma but in other areas as well. Honesty is crucial, particularly as in medicine, there is the risk of selling hope; this is not our objective. Spain has several major hospital groups, and CEMTRO Clinic stands out from them in wanting to practice medicine differently by being close to the patients and prioritizing their wellbeing.
EF: How will you remember 2023, and what are your priorities for 2024?
PG: I would summarize our priorities in three main points. Firstly, our digital transformation plan, started in 2023, is something the entire world is doing; digitalizing is unavoidable nowadays. The organization is also adopting a new sustainability plan based on three pillars: Governmental access, access for people, and environmental sustainability. Finally, we have a patient support plan, which includes a school for the patients, where we explain surgery processes to them, helping them relax and be aware of what is happening during their treatment process. Patients have responded well to our plan, which has proven to be efficient and helpful for patients.
EF: Smart hospitals and new technologies are the future of hospital care. Can you elaborate on CEMTRO Clinic’s state-of-the-art robotics and the advances you have made in the field?
PG: We are the first hospitals in Spain and Portugal to perform robotic hip and knee prosthesis implant surgery. We bought the first MAKO robot in November 2020 and the second in December 2022, and since then, we have completed 1,700 prostheses per robot, far more than any other hospital in Spain. It works extremely well, without a doubt. We have also had a Da Vinci robot for ten years, mainly for use in urological surgeries. I always say that innovation and research are in our DNA.
We are an institution of reference for training and development; we have five MRIs and two CT Scans, and because of this technology and our specialization, our radiology service is a paradise for radiologists. My father, Dr. Pedro Guillen, also developed and patented a wireless arthroscopy device (WAD), a device that sends images via Wi-Fi to a computer. This technology reduces the risk of postoperative infection, cuts the costs of intervention, and improves the use of arthroendoscopic techniques outside an operating room.
Another exciting detail I would like to share is that this year, we were Spain’s first institution to incorporate mixed reality to plan surgeries and provide greater interoperative information, leading to better patient outcomes. We are at the forefront of new technologies, being the first to implement tools that will transform hospital care in the future.
EF: Regarding new technologies, procedures, and research, how would you rate the Spanish market in terms of hospital innovation?
PG: I believe a lot of hospital and medical innovation is occurring in Spain. As I said before, teaching and research are in our DNA. Studying and documenting is essential. For example, we conduct approved cellular studies using medications with quality control standards appropriate for cellular research because we like to think of cells as opportunities and believe cellular regeneration is the future. Twenty-five years ago, we did our first chondrocyte implant treatment for damaged cartilage, which has worked very well. It is an autologous process, so there is no risk of rejection, and we cultivate the cells in our own laboratory. It is a consolidated and authorized therapy supported by the science of medicine, and we have had excellent results.
Regarding research, we have a foundation, Fundación Dr. Pedro Guillén, where we investigate and create innovative processes such as these. In our collaboration agreements with other companies, we are working with the research director of Altos Labs on cell regeneration projects aimed at the locomotor system. Here, we have a saying, “A society that does no research will become poor.” Research initiatives and collaboration with large companies put us at the forefront of innovation and highlight Spanish medical excellence.
EF: As CEMTRO Clinic expands, can you tell us what metrics you use to measure your growth and success within the sector?
PG: Results guide us, and we seek a balance between providing good medicine and economic sustainability. Healthcare will suffer in the future from the lack of professionals, especially in this country, although it is a global problem. There will be a lack of nurses and doctors; producing a nurse takes four to five years and a doctor ten years. Furthermore, society highly values leisure time, and we need to adapt to the social importance of work.
I believe that artificial intelligence will work to improve processes, make them more effective, and be part of the digital transformation that will allow us to treat patients effectively. The patients will participate more actively in this recovery process, and the healthcare staff will be able to focus on their true tasks.
EF: What are CEMTRO Clinic's strategies to foster, attract, and retain the best talent in such a competitive sector?
PG: Our medical training program attracts fellows from many countries who spend two to three months training with our experts. Our trauma service is highly specialized in all these units. When patients come to us, it is because many times they have not found a solution elsewhere. To be successful, we must retain our talent, so we take great care of the doctors, helping in their training progression, and as a result, in traumatology, we have quite a stable team. We are the only hospital in Spain with the FIFA medical seal of excellence. We work a lot in the world of sports, with large and small teams, and doctors who belong to football clubs come to us. Dr. La Torre is a doctor for the Getafe soccer club and works with us. She is the first female doctor to work with a men's soccer team. Dr. Fernandez is part of our team; he is the head of sports medicine and head of medical services for the Paralympic team that will go to Paris for the Olympics. As we cover all specialties in diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation, we have many connections with the world of sports.
EF: The title of our feature is “Road Map to Sustainable Healthcare.” What would be your three pillars for the Spanish health sector to achieve sustainability in terms of ecological and financial stability?
PG: It is all down to education, healthier habits, and the awareness of the hope of a longer life. The healthier we are, the better condition we will be in when we arrive at our old age; being alive at 90 in terrible conditions is not the solution. It is important to educate and inform about living healthily. We should take advantage of science's great advantages, which today offer alternatives to conditions that had no solution a few years ago.
Even though research takes time and doesn't always turn out well, investigating and researching is crucial. Vaccines like that for COVID-19 have been a spectacular achievement for the industry and proof of the power of combined efforts in research. Researchers must be recognized and not have to leave our country to fulfill their dreams.
In general terms, education and research aimed at helping people live healthier lives would improve the healthcare system and make it more productive. Education is also about knowing when one has to go to the doctor. Having a dynamic population involved in its own health and keeping it as one of its priorities requires widespread education.
The digital transformation of telemedicine, in addition, is opening many doors for us. In the future, there will be centers where diagnosis and therapies are highly targeted to patients, where one can take an anti-inflammatory, for example, which goes directly to the source of the pain. We will see a huge evolution in a few years. One of the strengths of CEMTRO Clinic is education, promoting knowledge, and making the sector more sustainable.
EF: This year, you are celebrating CEMTRO Clinic’s 25th anniversary. Considering your recent and past achievements, what message or reflection would you like to share with your team?
PG: My final reflection is that life is better when we are happy, but we are most happy when others are happy because of us. As healthcare workers, we are fortunate because we experience this routinely in our daily lives. Walking hand in hand with patients, accompanying them on their journey in search of health, is wonderful. Giving solutions to patients with these problems, especially when they have severe problems, is rewarding.
