Societal impact

Creating societal impact is at the heart of our activities. We undertake a large variety of activities to ensure that our knowledge and expertise contributes to better prevention and screening, and improved quality of health care. Our activities are guided by two principles:

• structural collaborations between medical practice, policy makers, and our researchers. These collaborations ensure that we are conducive to societal needs and that we are able to conduct responsive research. See some examples here
• Dissemination of knowledge into best practice in public health and health care.
  Listen to Judith Rietjens about end-of-life decisions [link: https://universiteitvannederland.nl/college/hoe-kun-je-zo-lekker-mogelijk-doodgaan]
  Learn about our app to guide treatment decisions for CVA patients [link: https://mrclean-trial.org/mr-predicts.html].
  Watch Harry de Koning presenting results of the unique lung cancer screening [Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbuGnREyalg].
  Enjoy the talk show of Café Weltschmertz with Lex Burdorf on work and health [Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=507_6gsA0pU]

Use of relevant products by society

• toolbox inter-professional collaboration, developed for Federation of Netherlands University
  Medical Centers (NFU). See http://www.nfukwaliteit.nl/producten/toolbox-leren-interprofessioneel-samenwerken 

• MISCAN webtool: miscan.eu-topia.org
• online calculator for cost-effectiveness of fall prevention programmes (ism VeiligheidNL en Vilans)
• Apps: Treatment decisions for acute ischemic stroke patients. https://mrclean-trial.org/mr-predicts.html; emergency care.

Products relevant to society

• national guidelines developed under our leadership: prevention of lifting 2013 (Burdorf), work as medicine 2018, breast cancer screening, and coloscopy surveillance 

• US Preventive Services Task Force National Guidelines for cancer screening (breast, lung, colon)
• international guidelines with leadership from our department: Guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of leprosy World Health Organization 2018