Healthcare is under great pressure worldwide. Due to increasing technological possibilities, an ageing population, new health risks and cultural developments, demand and costs are rising much faster than the available financial resources. Also, more and more care tasks are seen as individual responsibilities and the pressure on informal carers, for example, is increasing. Scientific research can contribute to solving this problem in several ways. Research into new treatment methods is necessary for professionals to work more efficiently. Research into the organisation of healthcare is necessary to make institutions work more efficiently. Health-economic research is necessary to enable policymakers to make the right decisions.
Connecting character
Multidisciplinarity is the key word for healthcare research questions. Scientists from different disciplines such as health economics, health law, organisational sciences, public administration, medical sociology, ethics and anthropology work closely together on issues related to healthcare. Collaboration with technical researchers will also be necessary, as deployment of technology may possibly lead to cost savings. Specifically, the use of ICT is widely cited as an opportunity for organising healthcare more efficiently. These are partly fundamental and partly applied questions. Many questions have an ethical basis. Cooperation with social partners, such as patient organisations, is emphatically present in this research, ensuring continuous relevance and applicability.
