1959 - The Year Everything Changed

• Indeed, I was born in 1959. The Year Everything Changed according to Pulitzer prize winner Fred Kaplan (click here to read more about it). In 1959, when the microchip was invented, the world started to develop in the direction as we know it today. In the decades after 1959 big technological, social and cultural changes occurred. Driven by human curiosity and the natural hunger and energy of new generations. I've experienced it all. The landing on the moon, the first home computer with 32K memory (imagine!), the first connected computer networks (beep beep). And the world will continue to change. To make these changes a success and to achieve benefit for everyone we need to work as a team. Together with all generations and a wide variety of human talents. I enjoy participating in this. 
  With grey hair and colourful thoughts.      

• Towards person-centered healthcare: using patients' experience 

  My professional background and personal experience has taken me to the present where I'm heavily interested in healthcare and the potential benefits of patient involvement. The ongoing shift in healthcare from volume to value demands for an important role of patient involvement in many settings and at different levels, from policy making to the doctor's consulting room. 
  
  Healthcare is a complex system with a delicate balance of power and a lot of influencers. Imagine an overcrowded cockpit! Everybody has an opinion. There also are a lot of academic experts in the field, for example Michael Porter and Henri Mintzberg. Regardless of the so called healthcare system (based on purely government rules, full competition or a plural system): rising costs is an issue everywhere. We cannot have a discussion on costs without consulting patients and patient organizations.   
  
  In this spectrum I want to focus on patient involvement and how patients can work together with doctors and healthcare service providers in order to realize better and cheaper care. 
  
  My special focus of research  at this moment is on implementing patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) in Dutch renal care.

• Interested? Feel free to contact me.           
  

• LinkedIn: https://nl.linkedin.com/in/wimsipma.