Centre for Family Medicine

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

• Prof. An De Sutter
• Prof. Peter Decat
• Prof. Pauline Boeckxstaens

Postdoc researchers

• Stefan Heytens

Contact

Prof. An De Sutter MD PhD

Director:

Janique Lobbestael ( janique.lobbestael@ugent.be)

Secretariat:

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