Janneke van der Woude appointed as professor of Healthcare Related Education

Gastroenterologist Janneke van der Woude has been appointed as professor of Innovation of health professions education / Healthcare related education at Radboudumc / Radboud University. This appointment follows her appointment as Director of the Radboudumc Health Academy. Van der Woude aims to educate patients about their own disease processes and teach medical and nursing students how to better engage patients in their care.

The changes in healthcare require different skills and competencies from both healthcare providers and patients. This necessitates new forms of education, both in content and didactics. Gastroenterologist and new director of the RHA, Janneke van der Woude, aims to improve health outcomes through education. On one hand, she develops innovative methods to educate patients. On the other hand, she wants healthcare providers to better learn during their training how to involve patients in their own care.  

Understanding

Van der Woude has 23 years of experience as a gastroenterologist at Erasmus MC, where she specialized in inflammatory bowel diseases, particularly during pregnancy: 'I learned how important it is to involve a patient in understanding, for example, the importance of a stable disease course when planning a pregnancy. Only when people truly understand the impact, are they willing to take responsibility, for instance, by taking medications. You must teach patients how they can contribute to their own health.'

In this regard, Van der Woude believes that healthcare providers currently are sending too much information. 'We provide too much information, but we need to think more in terms of education', explains Van der Woude. 'This means not just giving information but teaching someone something and creating a deeper level of understanding about certain issues that are important for different patient groups. This applies to certain diseases or medications, but also, for example, to vaccinations. We're not very good at it yet, but it's also challenging because the patient in front of you has a different educational background than you. How we as healthcare providers can improve is the subject of research in my professorship.'

Dashboard

According to Van der Woude, technology can help in the consultation room. Patients fill out questionnaires via a secure patient portal before their consultation. These questionnaires, known as Patient Reported Outcomes Measurements (PROMs), focus on symptoms, medication side effects, fatigue, and quality of life. Healthcare providers can view the individual PROM scores through an integrated dashboard within the electronic patient record. Thanks to this integration, PROMs can be widely applied across various departments and for different medical conditions. Van der Woude: 'The healthcare provider uses this data as the basis for the conversation. This allows you to immediately address issues that are important to the patient at that moment, giving you more time for these important topics. The dashboard also ensures that you don't forget anything.'

However, the implementation of the dashboard is not going smoothly in all healthcare institutions, notes Van der Woude. 'Patients sometimes don't fill out the questionnaires, and healthcare providers don't always know how to use the results. Therefore, I want this technology to receive more attention in the education of healthcare professionals, and there needs to be more awareness of the barriers and facilitators in using this technology.'

Career

Janneke van der Woude studied Medicine at VU in Amsterdam. She then trained as a gastroenterologist at UMCG. She obtained her PhD in 2004 in Groningen with her thesis titled: 'Apoptosis in (pre-) malignant lesions in the gastrointestinal tract'. Since 2001, Van der Woude has worked as a gastroenterologist at Erasmus MC, where she was appointed professor of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases in 2014. At Erasmus MC, she has also held various directorial positions. As of September 1, 2024, Van der Woude has been appointed Director of the RHA and Professor at Radboudumc. The professorship is for a period of five years.

• Want to know more about these subjects? Click on the buttons below for more news.

  News homepage news & media