Episode 5: Family Medicine
My name is Lotte Keijsers and I represent the department of Family Medicine in the PhD Panel. The last year of my PhD will start in March 2022, which is about personal person-centered care for people with chronic conditions – mainly chronic heart failure – through the Assessment of Burden of Chronic Conditions-tool (Ziektelastmeter voor Chronische Aandoeningen in Dutch and also known as ‘het ballonnenplaatje’).
The people
You can find our department on the third floor of Peter Debyeplein 1. There are only two corridors in our department – unlike all other DEB-floors, you cannot walk a complete circle. The department of Family Medicine is headed by prof. dr. Jean Muris. Furthermore, our department consists of a collection of various people working together on many diverse research projects: (assistant) professors, senior or post-doc researchers, PhD-candidates or AIOTHOs (Artsen In Opleiding tot Huisarts-Onderzoeker – medical students educated to become general practitioner and researcher) and support staff.
The research and education
Our department mainly performs research within general practice and preventive medicine with topics ranging from smoking cessation to diagnostics of (chronic) disorders to shared decision making. The department of Family Medicine is connected to the department of Family Medicine Education (ground floor of Peter Debyeplein 1), in which people are educated to become general practitioners or geriatric specialists.
The meetings
As a PhD-candidate, I can join two-weekly lunch lectures (for the whole department); two-weekly informal catch-up moments with all younger staff members of the department (online now; previously Heel HAG Bakt – an employee made a sweet or savoury treat for the whole apartment to eat during coffee break); and six-weekly (in)formal meetings with all PhD/AIOTHOs of our department.
The interesting stuff
Although the name of our department suggests that only GPs work here, its employees come from different (educational) backgrounds. This not only benefits social contact, but we also work together in many different studies, which can lead to unexpected but valuable collaborations!
Curious to know more about our department, or discuss possible collaborations, contact us via e-mail (Lotte via lotte.keijsers@maastrichtuniversity.nl or Ken via k.peeters@maastrichtuniversity.nl).