Het onderzoek vindt plaats binnen het Care And Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI).

Ondersteuning op maat: het skillmixinstrument The aim of this project is to develop a practical instrument that can be used by group practices to map and predict demand of patients and translate the nature of patients demand into an adequate skill mix. The development of this instrument seeks to systematically align demand and supply, especially to be prepared for the future challenges in primary care.

De zorg voor chronisch zieken in Nederland schiet tekort, zeker gezien de verwachte toename van het aantal chronisch zieken in de toekomst. Hoogleraar Chronische zorg Bert Vrijhoef pleit daarom voor een drastische hervorming, waarbij de patiënt en dus de zorgvraag centraal komt te staan. Vrijhoef sprak op vrijdag 5 november 2010 zijn inaugurele rede uit aan de Universiteit van Tilburg.

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic disorder with a worldwide prevalence rate from 0.5%-5%. The disorder affects preferentially women in the working age and is characterized by widespread, persistent musculoskeletal pain. In addition, a variety of other manifestations such as fatigue, loss of muscle strength, memory and concentration problems, depression, anxiety, headaches and symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome occurs.

The aging of the Dutch population is accompanied by an increase in elderly who will suffer from complex, multiple health complaints. A failure to detect health complaints among elderly in time will cause unnecessary neediness and will threaten their ability to function independently. The present evaluation study investigates the effects of the early identification of elderly people above the age of 75 years in order to detect frailty at an early stage.

Deze studie betreft de totstandkoming van een meetinstrument op basis van het Integrated Health Care Team Effectiveness Model (ITEM), specifiek voor COPD-zorg.

A study to describe the prevalence, severity and medical treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy (PDNP) of patients treated in secondary care. Moreover, we determined Qol and the relationship between severity of pain and severity of diabetic neuropathy (DNP).

A substantial part of prevention for cardiovascular diseases is delivered in primary care. According to the Dutch guideline, the heavy workload of cardiovascular risk management for general practitioners (GP) could be shared with advanced practice nurses. The aim of our study was to investigate different aspects of advanced practice nurses substituting for GPs in cardiovascular risk management, after one year follow-up.

Each year 40,000 people in the Netherlands suffer their first stroke. These patients often experience a range of problems, like physical limitations en difficulties in daily life, while psychosocial problems usually emerge in the long term. When patients are discharged home after stroke, they have to deal with the consequences of their stroke for the rest of their lives, which is referred to as the chronic phase.

To study the feasibility of telemonitoring a feasibility study - with a pre-post design - was performed in 2005. The results of this study shows that patients and caregivers were able to deal with the Health Buddy® . The Health Buddy® is a very simple device - with 4 buttons and a display - which is connected via a telephone connection with the computer in the heart failure nurse office. Daily dialogues concerning symptoms, knowledge and behaviour appear in the display.

Guidelines recommend pelvic floor muscle/bladder training for most patients. Unfortunately, GPs use this training only incidentally (probably too time consuming) and prescribe incontinence pads. Over 50% of patients get such pads, costing € 90 million each year. Due to ageing of the population a further increase is expected. Several national reports recommend to involve nurse practitioners to support GPs and improve patient care.