Shaping Geriatric Rehabilitation: Innovations, Collaborations, and Opportunities

2024-01-29 14:46:12

“We are entering a time when we have to deliver more care with fewer people. The great thing is that there are also many opportunities to shape geriatric rehabilitation smarter together with innovative interventions,” says Holstege. Holstege has been a lecturer in Geriatric Rehabilitation since 2022. Her professorship is part of the Health, Sports and Welfare domain and is affiliated with the Center of Expertise Prevention in Care & Welfare, which was established by the North Holland healthcare organization Omring.

Optimal geriatric rehabilitation

The current healthcare landscape is designed to enable people to live independently at home for longer. But currently, one in three does not recover to pre-hospital levels, Holstege says. That is why more attention should be paid to geriatric rehabilitation. Geriatric rehabilitation is a relatively young research area in which, according to Holstege, many new possibilities can still be discovered.

Zorgrobotica

Holstege especially wants to examine the available, smart technologies. A collaboration has now been entered into with the Robotics professorship of Inholland University of Applied Sciences. This involves practical research into the development of new securing robots. In this way, knowledge from practice is brought together with research by Holstege, among others.

In addition to ‘smart’, ‘collaboration’ is a key word for Holstege when it comes to improving geriatric rehabilitation. For example, how can community care and the social network work together better so that the transition from the rehabilitation department to the home environment runs smoothly.

Partnerships

In a broader context, the professorship collaborates with colleges, universities, practitioners, knowledge networks and the professional field. Such as within the Medical Delta Living Lab Geriatric Rehabilitation@Home. Collaboration is also being sought at a regional level in North Holland North. In addition to healthcare professionals, other researchers and students are involved.

Collaboration in eHealth specifically in elderly care is often high on the agenda. Last year, Topaz and NeLL signed a declaration of intent to establish a hub for e-health.

Ron Smeets