Optimising Patient Care
In view of advances in knowledge and changes in population demographics and health care, the research line Optimising Patient Care (OPC) wants to provide better insight in effective prevention, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of diseases in (primary) care and public health. We want to turn questions arising from clinical and public health practice into evidence that is applicable in practice itself.
Research and Impact
We carry out studies among patients in general practice as well as secondary and tertiary care, and public health settings, evaluating new and existing care elements and strategies. In addition, we run and study population-based cohorts in order to discover new targets for prevention. We have a strong interest in strengthening prevention in the region. We make use of the latest methodological approaches, including prediction modelling, meta-research techniques and machine learning; in the process of designing and performing studies, we often develop innovative quantitative methodology that can also be used elsewhere in clinical and epidemiological research.
News and research stories
The Sectorplan Hub for Prevention: Tackling Disparities Together
Green school playgrounds boost concentration and wellbeing
Bridging Borders, Building Capacity: Shaping Research and Healthcare in Ethiopia
Early and reliable asthma diagnosis in young children
COVID precise: Living systematic review of diagnostic and prognostic prediction and machine learning models for COVID-19
Case studies
Showcasing the impact and societal relevance of the research within the Optimising Patient Care research line.
Bridging Borders, Building Capacity: Shaping Research and Healthcare in Ethiopia
Since 2006, CAPHRI and Ethiopian researchers have partnered to boost local research capacity and tackle the nation’s most pressing health goals.
Read more
Complementary feeding during the first six months of life. Yes or no?
For years, children’s healthcare centres in the Netherlands advised young parents to feed their baby only breast milk for the first six months of life. The reality is a bit more nuanced, according to Carel Thijs.
Studying the Healthy Primary School of the Future
In 2015, four primary schools in the Parkstad Limburg region embarked on the Healthy Primary School of the Future programme. Their goal was to become schools that don’t just educate children, but also teach them how to live healthy lives.
COVID precise: Living systematic review of diagnostic and prognostic prediction and machine learning models for COVID-19
In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic plunged the world into turmoil. Which patients were at risk of severe illness? Laure Wynants immediately realised that she, as a statistician, could help them find the answers by identifying accurate prediction models.
South Limburg aims to reduce health gap by 25% in ten years
There is a persistent health gap between South Limburg and the rest of the Netherlands. By 2030, the region aims to have reduced this gap by 25 per cent.
'Primary care plus' is a strong alternative to hospital
A major reduction in health care costs per patient and shorter waiting lists, plus an increase in patient satisfaction with no detrimental effects on health outcomes. These are the key results of a multi-year trial of an alternative to regular hospital care dubbed 'primary care plus'.
More information, fewer antibiotic prescriptions
CAPHRI’s CHILI study has shown that the amount of unnecessary antibiotic prescribing for children can be reduced. Parents who took their child to a GP out-of-hours centre because of a fever were given an interactive information booklet.
Paying employees to quit smoking pays off
Making a meaningful contribution to people’s health is what drives researchers at the research school CAPHRI at Maastricht University. But it usually takes some time for research to have a real-world effect. Two CAPHRI studies on smoking cessation are an exception to this rule.
OPC Projects
Person-centred, integrated COVID-19 aftercare in the region (PINCOR)
PINCOR aims to study the effectiveness of person centered, integrated recovery within a regional network in patients with persistent complaints after COVID-19.
Read more about PINCOR
Burden of disease assesment tool for chronic conditions
The Ziektelastmeter (burden of disease assesment tool) was developed to provide healthcare providers and patients with insight into the primary factors determining the patient's disease burden. This is achieved using a questionnaire, the answers to which are converted into a balloon chart. It addresses the physical, emotional, psychological, and/or social aspects that play a role in the experienced disease burden. Because scores from the previous visit are displayed, changes since the last consultation can also be reviewed. The burden of disease assesment tool helps to structure consultations and facilitates shared decision-making. The instrument includes treatment recommendations and stimulates self-management.
The burden of disease assesment tool is currently available for people with COPD. However, there are many more chronic conditions that cause patients to experience disease burden. Therefore, researchers are working hard to make the burden of disease assesment tool available for other chronic conditions.
Read more about Ziektelastmeter voor Chronische Aandoeningen
Earlier diagnosis and improved pharmacotherapy for Dutch preschool children with asthma-like symptoms by using the innovative breath test
Asthma symptoms (breathlessness, coughing, and wheezing) occur in 40% of all young children under the age of 6. Of these, one-third actually have asthma, while two-thirds outgrow the symptoms and are symptom-free by 5–6 years of age (also referred to as ‘viral wheeze’ or ‘episodic wheeze’). Until recently, there was no diagnostic test available to distinguish children with asthma from those with a viral wheeze, leading to the underdiagnosis/undertreatment of asthma and the overtreatment of viral wheeze. In a previous study, a breath test for early asthma diagnosis was developed.
In this follow-up study, the health gains and the reduction in healthcare costs resulting from the application of the breath test will be determined: 220 children aged 2–3 years with asthma symptoms will be followed over several years.
Read more about Earlier diagnosis and improved pharmacotherapy for Dutch preschool children with asthma-like symptoms by using the innovative breath test
Childhood Infections Limburg (CHILI): Optimizing management and medication of febrile children in out-of-hours primary care
A child with a fever causes questions and concerns for parents. Many of these children end up at the general practitioner (GP), often during evening or weekend hours at the out-of-hours GP surgery. One in four children is prescribed antibiotics, even though serious infections are rare. Parents want to know what they can do themselves, and they expect a thorough physical examination, information regarding the course of the illness, and ideally, reassurance.
In this project, an interactive information booklet featuring a traffic-light system was developed, providing targeted information for parents about fever and infection symptoms such as earache and coughing.
GPs at the out-of-hours surgery who discussed this booklet with parents prescribed fewer antibiotics; the children also received fewer other medications, and parents proved less inclined to consult a GP or the out-of-hours surgery again for similar symptoms. The application of this information booklet—combined with training for childcare centre staff and a decision tree for parents and childcare centres (focusing on whether or not to attend the childcare centre, whether or not to use paracetamol, and whether or not to advise visiting a GP)—significantly improved the knowledge of childcare staff and supported communication between childcare centres and parents regarding a sick child.
Read more about CHILI
The Healthy Primary School of the Future
De Gezonde Basisschool van de Toekomst (The Healthy Primary School of the Future) is a formula that teaches children healthy habits at school from which they will benefit throughout their lives. Examples include engaging in plenty of sports and physical activity, as well as having lunch together in the classroom in accordance with the Dutch Wheel of Five (Schijf van Vijf), complemented by healthy snacks. These two habits form the pillars of the daily rhythm at De Gezonde Basisschool van de Toekomst.
Extensive research has been conducted into the effects of De Gezonde Basisschool van de Toekomst, which originally started in South Limburg. The first schools to implement the initiative participated in a large-scale study by Maastricht University. Data were gathered over a four-year period: pupils and their parents completed questionnaires regarding their dietary and physical activity habits, as well as their health, and the pupils were also weighed and measured. The study included schools that had introduced the full concept of De Gezonde Basisschool van de Toekomst, schools that only focused extra attention on sports and physical activities, and schools that made no changes at all. This approach enabled the researchers to effectively map the differences. For four years, the pupils from these eight schools in total were followed by Maastricht University.
The outcomes demonstrate that De Gezonde Basisschool van de Toekomst has many positive effects on the health and well-being of the children who participated.
Following the positive results of the study in South Limburg, further research ensued. The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) investigated the level of support for, as well as the feasibility, affordability, and impact of school lunches and increased physical activity at school. The results of this study can be found here.
Research was also conducted into how the implementation of health-promoting interventions at school progresses, and which factors facilitate or hinder this process. This study further highlighted the importance of generating support and appointing a De Gezonde Basisschool van de Toekomst coordinator.
Read more about The Healthy Primary School of the Future
Continuous Abstinence Through Corporate Healthcare (CATCH)
Financial incentives are potentially useful tools to aid smoking cessation, but robust evidence to support their efficacy, particularly in combination with other interventions (eg, group counselling), has not been reported. We aimed to investigate whether financial incentives combined with a smoking cessation group training programme (compared with a training programme with no incentives) organised at the workplace would increase 12-month abstinence rates in tobacco-smoking employees with different education and income levels.
Read more about CATCH
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