Renal transplant patient acceptance of a self-management support system

Background: Self-management support systems (SMSS) have been proposed for renal transplant patients to increase their autonomy and reduce the number of hospital visits. For the design and implementation of such systems, it is important to understand factors influencing patients’ acceptance of a SMSS. This paper aims to identify these key factors...

Patient experiences with self-monitoring renal function after renal transplantation: results from a single-center prospective pilot study

Background: After a kidney transplantation, patients have to visit the hospital often to monitor for early signs of graft rejection. Self-monitoring of creatinine in addition to blood pressure at home could alleviate the burden of frequent outpatient visits, but only if patients are willing to self-monitor and if they adhere to the self...

Patients absent from work through sickness expect the GP to play a prominent role: Patiënten verwachten bij ziekteverzuim een prominente rol van de huisarts

Background Employees absent from work through sickness often have contact with their GP and their occupational physician (OP). Little is as yet known about what they think of such contacts. We studied the employees' experience with and their opinions about these doctors. Method Unemployment services sent questionnaires to a sample of 5800 sick...

Empowerment of disability benefit claimants through an interactive website: Design of a randomized controlled trial

Background. Individuals claiming a disability benefit after long-term sickness absence, have to undergo medical disability assessments. These assessments, often carried out by specialized physicians, can be complicated by wrong expectations or defensive attitudes of disability benefit claimants. It is hypothesized that empowerment of these...

Interviews for the assessment of long-term incapacity for work: A study on adherence to protocols and principles

Background. Assessments for long-term incapacity for work are performed by Social Insurance Physicians (SIPs) who rely on interviews with claimants as an important part of the process. These interviews are susceptible to bias. In the Netherlands three protocols have been developed to conduct these interviews. These protocols are expert- and...

Effects of health education for migrant females with psychosomatic complaints treated by general practitioners. A randomised controlled evaluation study

Objective: : The effectiveness of use of migrant health educators in the general practitioners' care for female migrants with psychosomatic problems was evaluated to contribute to the improvement of the care for these patients. Methods: : A randomised controlled trial (RCT) design was used. A total of 104 patients (75%) agreed to take part in...

Asthma beliefs among mothers and children from different ethnic origins living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Background. Doctors and patients hold varying beliefs concerning illness and treatment. Patients' and families' explanatory models (EMs) vary according to personality and sociocultural factors. In a multi-ethnic society, it is becoming increasingly significant that doctors understand the different beliefs of their patients in order to improve...

How general practitioners can manage work-related psychological complaints. Design and pilot of a guideline: A contribution towards solving a huge problem

The power of communication. Modifying behaviour: Effectively influencing nutrition patterns of patients

Every year 7000 people die from obesity and another 13 000 people die by wrong diets in The Netherlands. Part of this problem can be solved when the communication between general practitioners (GPs) and patients about nutrition and diets improves. There are four activities that can contribute greatly to the communication between GPs and their...

Use of HRQOL questionnaires to facilitate patient-physician communication

Quality and effectiveness of occupational health services evaluated by the providers

In a debate on the desired occupational health service in The Netherlands all parties involved seemed to be rather unsatisfied with the current practice. Therefore a study was set out on the quality of the service to 51 client organizations as seen by the parties involved. In the first phase the viewpoint of the occupational health teams was...