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Outcome indicators for better quality of care

Last year, she published with a large international group on outcome indicators for quality of survival. Rebecca van Kalsbeek has also played a leading role in other international LATER projects. She will receive her doctorate from the University of Utrecht with honors on June 4, 2024, with Leontien Kremer and Rob Pieters as promoters.
Rebecca van Kalsbeek: ‘International collaboration is very important for improving the quality of care. Only a limited number of outcomes need to be measured to identify the most important influences on the quality of survival. Some of these outcomes are disease-specific and many are relevant to almost all children with and after cancer. For example, heart failure, decreased fertility, second tumors, psychosocial and neurocognitive problems. These are outcomes that can affect quality of life. Understanding more about quality of survival provides clues about how to further improve the quality of care. In addition, I have experienced the joy and importance of working with survivors. They played an important role in shaping the project and interpreting the results.’ 

‘A better understanding of the quality of survival provides guidance for continuous improvement of the quality of care’ Rebecca van Kalsbeek - PhD student

International approach 

‘Several projects in my doctoral program involved international collaboration. The outcome indicator project is one of them,' Rebecca continues. ‘With the European PanCareFollowUp project, led by Leontien Kremer, we introduced LATER care in Europe and developed international guidelines. It was very inspiring and successful. It is a collaboration of several European countries, for example Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Czech Republic, Denmark and Switzerland. Through this collaboration, we are joining forces and addressing challenges that all of these European centers are experiencing to some degree. Because the recommendations are now more widely supported, it will be easier to put these results into practice.’ Are these results and recommendations already being put into practice? Rebecca: ‘Yes, definitely! The outcome indicators are implemented by a multidisciplinary team at the Máxima Center. But also, for example, the PanCareFollowUp recommendations, which are clinical recommendations for LATER care, are already being used in different countries. They are even used to advocate the importance of LATER care in countries where it is not yet implemented.’

Feasibility PanCareFollowUp
Practice implications