UMCG to receive EUR 450,000 for improving communication education to healthcare providers in Europe

The UMCG will receive a European subsidy of EUR 450,000 to develop an education programme to help physicians, nurses and other health care providers communicate better with older patients with ‘low health skills’. The subsidy is part of the EU Erasmus+ programme.  

Older people with low health skills often find it difficult to come to terms with their illness and the associated treatment. They do not understand doctor s’ advice very well and consequently don’t follow it adequately, they use medicines wrongly because they cannot properly read or understand the leaflet and have little general knowledge about illness and health. Care providers lack knowledge and skills to communicate effectively with this group of older people. Strengthening the communicative skills of future healthcare providers can contribute to improving the care for these elderly people.

The relevant project, which bears the name IMPACCT, is led by UMCG researcher Andrea de Winter. It will be carried out by the UMCG Department of Health Sciences, in collaboration with the Faculty of Arts, the Center for Information Technology of the University of Groningen and partners from Ireland, Belgium, Italy, Slovakia and Germany (NUIG, EURASHE, Regione Marche, UPJS, Jacobs University). The project was made possible through the support of UMCG Research BV.

Over a period of 3 years, the consortium will focus on developing, implementing and evaluating new communication education for future healthcare providers in Europe. All insights gained will also be used to develop a series of digital lectures, so-called Massive Online Open Courses or MOOCs, for a wide audience.

IMPACCT stands for IMproving PAtient-centered Communication Competences: to develop professional capacity concerning health literacy in medical and nursing education.

Healthy Ageing is a UMCG spearhead, and knowledge in this area is transferred to future practitioners. Students and specialists in training are introduced to social and demographic developments, are challenged to think about the future of healthcare and prepare for their role in it as care providers.