PURPOSE: To document and analyse the decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment (LST) in a population of very old patients admitted to the ICU. METHODS: This prospective study included intensive care patients aged ≥ 80 years in 309 ICUs from 21 European countries with 30-day mortality …

Background: Construction work, squares, busy sidewalks, road crossings and hasty cyclists - these are just a few of the many challenges visually impaired people (VI) encounter when navigating through urban environments. Especially unknown routes require so much concentration and energy, that VI often …

Background and Purpose: Decreased muscle mass and muscle strength are independent predictors of poor postoperative recov- ery in patients with esophageal cancer. If there is an association between muscle mass and muscle strength, physiotherapists are able to measure muscle strength as an early predictor …

Background: Despite the increasing labour market shortage of well-educated community nurses, few baccalaureate nursing students choose for a career in community care. Obtaining knowledge of how students perceive healthcare areas early in their education is important to take meaningful steps in counteracting …

Complex interventions are criticized for being a “black box”, which makes it difficult to determine why they succeed or fail. Recently, nine proactive primary-care programs aiming to prevent functional decline in older adults showed inconclusive effects. The aim of this study was to systematically unravel, …

Het hbo kampt met gering studiesucces van studenten in termen van studievoortgang, uitval en gepercipieerde competentie. Welke maatregelen kan het hbo nemen? Deze bijdrage, gebaseerd op het proefschrift ‘One size fits all?’, gaat over leerpsychologische factoren en interactionalistische factoren waaruit …

Nursing homes are challenged to develop staffing strategies that enable them to efficiently meet the healthcare demand of their residents. In this study, we investigate how demand for care and support fluctuates over time and during the course of a day, using demand data from three independent nursing …

Background: Low-educated patients are disadvantaged in using questionnaires within the health care setting because most health-related questionnaires do not take the educational background of patients into account. The Dutch Talking Touch Screen Questionnaire (DTTSQ) was developed in an attempt to meet …

After the Yugoslav civil war, the European Union tried to establish a period of peace and stability within the Western Balkan area. With the help of the European Union many Western Balkan countries were able to develop themselves and join the European Union. Nevertheless, Kosovo1 remained unstable and …

An increasing life expectancy brings higher risks for getting a neurodegenerative disorder like Alzheimer’s disease (AD). As there is still no cure for this disease, expenses in health care keep rising because most of the care for patients with AD are from nursing homes and hospitals. The change from …