Entete 3

Author Archives: François Schellevis

ICARE4EU: Innovating care for people with multiple chronic conditions in Europe

By François Schellevis

A consortium, coordinated by NIVEL, the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research, has obtained a 1.2 million Euros grant from the European Commission for the ICARE4EU project which started on March 1st, 2013. ICARE4EU will describe and analyse innovative approaches in multidisciplinary care for people with multiple chronic conditions currently existing in Europe. By disseminating knowledge about effective and innovative solutions, we hope to contribute to an improved design, a wider applicability and more effective implementation of patient-centred multidisciplinary care for people with multimorbidity. The ICARE4EU project is part of the Health Programme 2008-2013 of the European Commission.

Project activities

Expert organizations will be approached in the 28 EU Member States, Iceland and Norway. These organizations will provide information about the characteristics of care programmes aimed at patients with multimorbidity that have been initiated in their country. This will include information about for instance the target group of the programmes, the disciplines involved, the care pathway or procedures, the way patients and informal carers are actively involved, and their evidence or results. More detailed information will be gathered about the following subjects: patient-centeredness, use of e-health technology, management practices & professional competencies and financing systems. Additionally, country level information about the health care system and its characteristics will be gathered. Best practices will be identified for each of the four afore mentioned subjects. Based on this information key characteristics for successful management and implementation strategies will be identified. A plan for future monitoring of the developments in multimorbidity chronic illness care will also be developed.

The consortium

Project partners include the Technische Universität Berlin (Germany), the University of Eastern Finland, the Italian National Institute of Health and Science on Aging, the University of Warwick, the AGE Platform Europe and Eurocarers, the European association working for carers, and we collaborate with the European Observatory on health systems and policies. NIVEL, the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research, coordinates the ICARE4EU project.

The research team

NIVEL: François Schellevis, Mieke Rijken, Daphne Jansen, Sanne Snoeijs
Technical University Berlin: Reinhard Busse, Ewout van Ginneken, Verena Struckmann
Italian National Institute of Health and Science on Aging: Maria Gabriella Melchiorre, Roberta Papa
University of Eastern Finland: Sari Rissannen, Anneli Hujala
University of Warwick: Aileen Clarke, Mariana Dyakova

Further information

www.icare4eu.org

Contact

icare4eu@nivel.nl

A Masterclass on Multimorbidity Research

By François Schellevis

On the occasion of the stay of prof. Martin Fortin in the Netherlands, we organised on April 27th, 2011 a Masterclass on Multimorbidity Research under the auspices of the Dutch Primary Care Research School “CaRe”. CaRe represents the cooperation between the departments of general practice of three Dutch universities and NIVEL, the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (www.researchschoolcare.nl). We used this opportunity to bring together researchers working on different multimorbidity issues. It was unique experience with a very fruitful exchange and discussions with prof. Fortin, the “Master”, and with colleagues.

The Masterclass started with a presentation of prof. Fortin about Multimorbidity research in Canada. Research is focused on three themes: conceptual issues (including how to measure multimorbidity), the epidemiology of multimorbidity, and interventions focusing on improving health and health care. After this, four researchers from each CaRe partner presented their work, followed by a discussion with the audience. Mrs. Ruth van Nispen (EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam) showed how multimorbidity affects the quality of life of severely impaired visually handicapped persons. Mrs. Sil Aarts (CAPHRI/MENS, University of Maastricht) discussed the issue of measuring the physical and mental aspects of quality of life in multimorbid patients in general practice. Mrs. Annemarie Uijen (Department of Primary Care, St Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen) presented the development of a generic questionnaire to measure continuity of care among multimorbid patients in different care settings. Finally, Mrs. Nathalie Versnel (NIVEL, Utrecht and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam) presented the design of a randomized controlled trial to establish the effectiveness of case management in diabetes patients with comorbidity.

All participants were very positive about the Masterclass which provided many new insights into research issues regarding multimorbidity. They considered the setting of a Masterclass with an expert from abroad and discussions in a small group of colleagues working on comparable issues as very fruitful. We were very grateful to prof. Fortin for providing us with this opportunity.