Background: The COVID-19 pandemic taught us how to rethink care delivery. It catalyzed creative solutions to amplify the potential of personnel and facilities. This paper presents and evaluates a promptly introduced triaging solution that evolved into a tool to tackle the ever-growing waiting lists at an academic ophthalmology department, the TeleTriageTeam (TTT). A team of undergraduate optometry students, tutor optometrists, and ophthalmologists collaborate to maintain continuity of eye care. In this ongoing project, we combine innovative interprofessional task allocation, teaching, and remote care delivery. Objective: In this paper, we described a novel approach, the TTT; reported its clinical effectiveness and impact on waiting lists; and discussed its transformation to a sustainable method for delivering remote eye care. Methods: Real-world clinical data of all patients assessed by the TTT between April 16, 2020, and December 31, 2021, are covered in this paper. Business data on waiting lists and patient portal access were collected from the capacity management team and IT department of our hospital. Interim analyses were performed at different time points during the project, and this study presents a synthesis of these analyses. Results: A total of 3658 cases were assessed by the TTT. For approximately half (1789/3658, 48.91%) of the assessed cases, an alternative to a conventional face-to-face consultation was found. The waiting lists that had built up during the first months of the pandemic diminished and have been stable since the end of 2020, even during periods of imposed lockdown restrictions and reduced capacity. Patient portal access decreased with age, and patients who were invited to perform a remote, web-based eye test at home were on average younger than patients who were not invited. Conclusions: Our promptly introduced approach to remotely review cases and prioritize urgency has been successful in maintaining continuity of care and education throughout the pandemic and has evolved into a telemedicine service that is of great interest for future purposes, especially in the routine follow-up of patients with chronic diseases. TTT appears to be a potentially preferred practice in other clinics and medical specialties. The paradox is that judicious clinical decision-making based on remotely collected data is possible, only if we as caregivers are willing to change our routines and cognitions regarding face-to-face care delivery.
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Doelstelling: In kaart brengen van de risicofactoren voor het ontwikkelen van binoculaire diplopie na conventionele monovisie door middel van contactlenzen of refractiechirurgie bij presbyopen. Methode: Voor deze literatuurstudie is in maart 2017 gezocht in databanken Pubmed, ScienceDirect en Google Scholar. Artikelen zijn geïncludeerd als binoculaire diplopie door monovisie wordt beschreven. Alle patiënten die worden weergegeven in deze artikelen zijn ouder dan 40 jaar en hebben monovisie door middel van contactlenzen of refractiechirurgie. De resultaten beschrijven de oorzaken van de binoculaire diplopie, de voorgeschiedenis van de patiënt met betrekking tot strabismus en de hoogte van additie. Onderscheid wordt gemaakt tussen contactlensdragers en patiënten die refractiechirurgie hebben ondergaan. Resultaten: In deze literatuurstudie zijn zes artikelen verwerkt. Uit deze artikelen zijn 35 patiënten met binoculaire diplopie meegenomen in dit onderzoek, vijftien patiënten met contactlens geïnduceerde monovisie en twintig patiënten met refractiechirurgie geïnduceerde monovisie. De oorzaken van binoculaire diplopie (decompensatie van een heteroforie, een intermitterend strabismus die constant wordt, een verworven heterotropie, decompensatie van een N IV parese en fixation switch diplopie) geven geen grote verschillen in aantal patiënten. Een additie hoger dan twee dioptrie komt meer voor in deze patiëntengroep met binoculaire diplopie dan een lagere additie. Een positieve voorgeschiedenis met betrekking tot strabismus komt meer voor dan een negatieve voorgeschiedenis. Relevante verschillen tussen contactlensdragers en patiënten die refractiechirurgie hebben ondergaan zijn niet gevonden. Conclusie: Vanwege het gebrek aan consistente data is meer onderzoek nodig voor significante resultaten.
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Intra-ocular straylight can cause decreased visual functioning, and it may cause diminished vision-related quality of life (VRQOL). This cross-sectional population-based study investigates the association between straylight and VRQOL in middle-aged and elderly individuals. Multivariable linear regression analyses were used to assess the association between straylight modeled continuously and cutoff at the recommended fitness-to-drive value, straylight ≥ 1.4 log(s), and VRQOL. The study showed that participants with normal straylight values, straylight ≤ 1.4 log(s), rated their VRQOL slightly better than those with high straylight values (straylight ≥ 1.4 log(s)). Furthermore, multivariable regression analysis revealed a borderline statistical significant association (p = .06) between intra-ocular straylight and self-reported VRQOL in middle-aged and elderly individuals. The association between straylight and self-reported VRQOL was not influenced by the status of the intra-ocular lens (natural vs. artificial intra-ocular lens after cataract extraction) or the number of (instrumental) activities of daily living that were reported as difficult for the elderly individuals.
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The primary reason for the development of physician assistant (PA) educational programs in the Netherlands was the discrepancy between supply and demand for health care providers. The need for health care workers was increasing while the supply of (para)medical and nursing practitioners stagnated. Although medical schools have expanded the numbers of students they are training, it is still not enough to overcome the problem of a shortage of physicians
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Rationale, aims and objective: Primary Care Plus (PC+) focuses on the substitution of hospital-based medical care to the primary care setting without moving hospital facilities. The aim of this study was to examine whether population health and experience of care in PC+ could be maintained. Therefore, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and experienced quality of care from a patient perspective were compared between patients referred to PC+ and to hospital-based outpatient care (HBOC). Methods: This cohort study included patients from a Dutch region, visiting PC+ or HBOC between December 2014 and April 2018. With patient questionnaires (T0, T1 and T2), the HRQoL and experience of care were measured. One-to-two nearest neighbour calliper propensity score matching (PSM) was used to control for potential selection bias. Outcomes were compared using marginal linear models and Pearson chi-square tests. Results: One thousand one hundred thirteen PC+ patients were matched to 606 HBOC patients with well-balanced baseline characteristics (SMDs <0.1). Regarding HRQoL outcomes, no significant interaction terms between time and group were found (P > .05), indicating no difference in HRQoL development between the groups over time. Regarding experienced quality of care, no differences were found between PC+ and HBOC patients. Only travel time was significantly shorter in the HBOC group (P ≤ .001). Conclusion: Results show equal effects on HRQoL outcomes over time between the groups. Regarding experienced quality of care, only differences in travel time were found. Taken as a whole, population health and quality of care were maintained with PC+ and future research should focus more on cost-related outcomes.
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In most countries, maternal and newborn care is fragmented and focused on identification and treatment of pathology that affects only the minority of women and babies. Recently, a framework for quality maternal and newborn care was developed, which encourages a system-level shift to provide skilled care for all.This care includes preventive and supportive care that works to strengthen women’s capabilities and focuses on promotion of normal reproductive processes while ensuring access to emergency treatment when needed. Midwifery care is pivotal in this framework, which contains several elements that resonate with the main dimensions of primary care. Primary health care is the first level of contact with the health system where most of the population’s curative and preventive health needs can be fulfilled as close as possible to where people live and work. In this paper, we argue that midwifery as described in the framework requires the application of a primary care philosophy for all childbearing women and infants. Evaluation of the implementation of the framework should therefore include tools to monitor the performance of primary midwifery care.
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Objective: The aim of this study was to obtain insight in specific elements influencing the use, non-use, satisfaction, and dissatisfaction of ankle foot orthoses (AFOs) and the presence of underexposed problems with respect to AFOs. Methods: A questionnaire was composed to obtain information from AFO users to investigate the variables associated with satisfaction and the relation between these variables. A specific feature of this study was the systematic analysis of the remarks made by the respondents about their AFO. Quantitative data analyses were used for analysing the satisfaction and qualitative analyses were used analysing the remarks of the respondents. A total of 211 users completed the questionnaire. Results: Our survey showed that 1 out of 15 AFOs were not used at all. About three quarters of the AFO users were satisfied and about one quarter was dissatisfied. Females and users living alone reported relatively high levels of dissatisfaction, especially in the field of dimensions, comfort, weight, safety and effectiveness. Dissatisfaction with respect to off-the-shelf AFOs for the item durability was higher than that for custom-made AFOs. In the delivery and maintenance process the items ‘maintenance’, ‘professionalism’ and ‘delivery follow-up’ were judged to be unsatisfactory. A large number of comments were made by the respondents to improve the device or process, mainly by the satisfied AFO users. These comments show that even satisfied users experience many problems and that a lot of problems of AFO users are ‘underexposed’. Conclusion: To improve user satisfaction, the user practice has to be identified as an important sub-process of the whole orthopaedic chain especially in the diagnosis and prescription, delivery tuning and maintenance, and evaluation phase.
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The aim of the study was to evaluate whether multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with risk of cataract or glaucoma. We conducted a population-based cohort study utilizing the UK General Practice Research Database (1987–2009) linked to the national hospital registry of England (1997–2008). Incident MS patients (5576 cases) were identified and each was matched to six patients without MS (controls) by age, gender, and practice. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) of incident cataract and glaucoma in MS. Time-dependent adjustments were made for age, history of diseases and drug use.
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We examined the various career paths of PhDs in the Netherlands. In this publication, we feature the personal stories of ten of our study participants, detailing their careers both within and outside of academia. The ten portraits of PhD graduates are complemented by three portraits of employers describing their experiences working with PhDs. The personal accounts featured in this publication contain a wealth of information and recommendations for PhD students, universities and employers alike.
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Background: The “Care for Participation+” (CFP+) intervention was developed in order to change the attitudes of direct support professionals (DSPs) regarding the participation of adults with visual and severe or profound ID (VSPID). Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of CFP+ on the participation of the target group. Methods: We performed a pilot nonrandomized controlled trial with three arms. The effect of CFP+ on participation was compared to a usual care control group (n = 13), and a control group in which one element of CFP+ was implemented (n = 14). Participation was measured using specific domains of the Quality Of Life of People with Profound Multiple Disabilities (QOL-PMD) questionnaire that was completed by the legal representatives and DSPs of adults with VSPID, and video-observations of (initiatives for prompting) active involvement within 10 dyads comprising adults with VSPID and DSPs. Findings: The effects of CFP+ on the QOL-PMD were very small and not statistically significant. Qualitative analyses showed that in the CFP+ group, active involvement in activities of adults with VSPID and number of DSPs' initiatives to stimulate active involvement exceeded those within the two control groups. Discussion: CFP+ has positive effects on the active involvement of individuals with VSPID and on DSPs' initiatives to enhance this involvement. The unexpected small effects of CFP+ on the participation of these adults could be explained by several factors such as small sample size, ceiling effects, response shift, changes in the control group, and implementation barriers. Accordingly, the most effective elements of CFP+ could be further developed and investigated in combination with an improved implementation strategy.
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