New endowed professorship for multimedication and health services research
27.02.2019 08:30
According to Goethe University Frankfurt, a third of all patients in general practitioner practices suffer from multiple illnesses. Those affected are usually treated by different specialists, who often do not coordinate their prescriptions sufficiently with one another. The result is uncertainty and excessive demands on many patients, as well as possible serious side effects. This should now be achieved through the appointment of Prof. Dr. Marjan van den Akker to the new “Endowed Professorship for Multimedication and Health Services Research” in the Institute for General Medicine at Goethe University.
Marjan van den Akker worked at Maastricht University (Netherlands) and specialized in the area of multimorbidity and multimedication. From March 1st, according to the Goethe University Frankfurt, she will work in collaboration with doctors, pharmacists, scientists and medical assistants to improve the medication care of multimorbid patients. The professorship was endowed by Insight Health, a company that specializes in the analysis of medication prescriptions, for a period of six years.
“Older patients, and sometimes even young patients, are particularly often affected by multiple illnesses. They usually have a complex health situation that sometimes overwhelms even doctors,” says Prof. van den Akker. The focus of their research will be on common combinations of diseases and their drug treatment. By further developing and evaluating interventions, she wants to improve the care of this patient group.
It is known from previous studies, for example, that for the majority of patients with multiple illnesses, the overall medication can be improved, either by reducing the medication, but sometimes also by prescribing additional medication. “It is important to me to take the patients’ wishes and living circumstances into account. In a conversation with the doctor, the benefits and risks of medication should be weighed up and a decision should then be made together.”
Given the frequency and complexity of multimedication, Prof. van den Akker would like to prepare medical and pharmacy students well for advising this patient group. She plans to set up an interdisciplinary teaching program in which doctors and pharmacists will be offered joint events.
Prof. Ferdinand Gerlach, Director of the Institute for General Medicine, is pleased about the new addition: “The new endowed professorship fits perfectly with our research profile in Frankfurt. Together with Prof. van den Akker, we can develop new ways to provide better health care for chronically ill people and thus provide even better support to primary care practices in their important tasks.”
Prof. Pfeilschifter, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, adds: “Drug research and therapy are a focus of the Faculty of Medicine and Goethe University as a whole. Therefore, Prof. van den Akker is an excellent, complementary fit for this dynamic area of work at the Frankfurt University Medical Center.”