Centre for Family Medicine and Primary Care

Presentation of unit

A strong Primary Care System is the cornerstone of any accessible and sustainable healthcare system.
Family medicine, as a unique discipline with specific knowledge and competences, is an essential part of this.
Through our role as a Centre for Family Medicine, we want to actively contribute-in research, education and societal outreach- to an accessible and sustainable healthcare system.

Topics

  • Chronic and Goal-Oriented Care
  • Medical Decision Making
  • Interprofessional Education
  • Quality of Care
  • Preventive Healthcare
  • Evidence Based Practice (EBP)
  • Psycho-Social Care

Main activities

Research 

  • Research focusing on the quality and scientific underpinning of the medical practice of the general practitioner.
  • Research focusing on the organisation of care and the healthcare landscape within Primary and Transmural Care.
  • Research focusing on the development of high-quality education in the domain of general practice.
  • We create added value in our research through maximum cooperation with other disciplines and with other research groups at home and abroad.

Education

  • We offer innovative and future-oriented education that prepares for social changes and innovations in the healthcare landscape.
  • We aim to develop this education with, among other things, increasing interprofessional competencies.
  • We pay special attention to the social role of Primary Healthcare and Family Medicine in striving for a maximum accessibility and inclusiveness of care.
  • Within our educational mission we focus on the following topics:
    • Chronic and goal-oriented care,
    • Medical Decision Making,
    • Quality of Care, Preventive Healthcare,
    • Evidence Based Practice (EBP),
    • Psycho-Social Care
    • Interprofessional Education,.

List of most important projects

  • Integrating primary care and public health
  • investigating strategies to provide accessible and quality care to people living in vulnerable contexts.
  • Using community health workers in Ghent to promote informed decisions about cervical cancer screening among women from vulnerable contexts.
  • Investigation of determinants of cardiometabolic health in working-class neighbourhoods in Sacaba, Bolivia
  • Supporting self-management in primary care (academy of primary care)
  • Population management in general practice.
  • Abortion among young women in the Mozambican cities of Maputo and Quelimani
  • Qualitative indicators for community health worker interventions in Ethiopia
  • SCOPE: a research project on SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among residents and staff in 69 Belgian nursing homes
  • Investigation of antibiotic sensitivity of uropathogens in women with uncomplicated urinary tract infections in primary care.
  • Can selected lab data be used as surveillance for antibiotic susceptibility of uropathogens in women in primary care?
  • Research on clinical decision support systems for general practitioners.
  • ARON study: investigate the value of a clinical decision rule combined with a Point of Care CRP test in acutely ill children and develop a substantiated "safety netting advice"
  • Implementation of antibiotic stewardship in Belgian nursing homes

Collaborators

Lead

Postdoc researchers

  • Stefan Heytens

Contact

Prof. An De Sutter MD PhD

Director:

Janique Lobbestael ( janique.lobbestael@ugent.be)

Secretariat:

Contact lesson schedules general practice - basic programme:
Ellen Bruffaerts ()
Nadia Crickx ()
09/332 33 12
Contact lesson schedules Master after Master general practice:
Ellen Bruffaerts ()
09/332 33 12
Contact internship coordination in general practice (basic programme):
Ilse Van der Stichelen ()
09/332 36 12

 

Centrum Huisartsgeneeskunde UGent
Vakgroep Volksgezondheid en Eerstelijnszorg
Campus UZ Ingang 42, verdieping 6
Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Gent, België