Last Saturday it was announced at the Spring Symposium Domus Medica (DM) that Dr. Kaat Ieven has won the 2024 Flemish and Brussels General Practitioner Prize. She was praised for her unifying leadership role. Her speech of thanks provided a clear diagnosis of current GP problems and the challenges for the future.
Jeroen van den Brandt, DM chairman, described her as someone who likes to name things, works with a population-oriented lens and shows that with a young family you can still be enthusiastic about your work and committed to the general medicine of tomorrow. “She can also inspire people.”
Bridge builder during pandemic
Doctor Ieven is a member of the Genk medical association Prometheus. Dr. Rob Smeets, chairman, outlined how, when she started in the Genk group practice Boxberg in 2017, she quickly emerged as a huge bridge builder. Just when the pandemic broke out in 2020, the primary care zone (ELZ) was about to be established. “We needed a strong GP there, Kaat became chairman of ELZ Kemp en Duin and immediately put a GP stamp on the zone. She provided excellent guidance to colleagues during the pandemic. A perfectly functioning vaccination system was created that general practitioners and specialists could fall back on to vaccinate, which earned them great gratitude from their colleagues, who were thus greatly relieved of the burden.”
Colleagues in the wind during the Ukraine crisis
The pandemic was barely behind us when the Ukraine crisis arose. The refugees urgently needed to be taken care of, which happened in a hastily set up care center where an interpreter was deployed. Once again, this meant that GPs did not have to worry much about the reception and so they were again left out of the wind. “Kaat is held in high esteem by young and old. In the meantime, she also managed to give birth to two children, followed a management course and combined all this with a busy practice.” Professor Bert Vaes was full of praise for her as the promoter of her thesis ‘master health management’.
Dr. Harrie Dewitte, once laureate of the Flemish and Brussels GP Prize and a prominent member of the Genk GP circle, also praised her for her efforts, practical implementation and interest in population health management. “With a pilot project, she managed to increase the vaccination rate in disadvantaged neighborhoods.”
“Young GPs are accused of not wanting to work hard, but Kaat proves the opposite,” he said. “She strongly encourages colleagues to participate in all kinds of projects. Kaat Ievens is an example for many young female general practitioners who do not find it easy to cope in the same situation.”
Doctor Ievens also played an important role in the creation of the charter for the partnership for primary care in Limburg, in which hospital doctors and academics were also involved.
System failure
In her acceptance speech, the laureate started from a children’s answer to the question what they did when they were sick. “Listen to the heart”.
“We, general practitioners, also listen to the heart: general medicine is the heart, the central point for care and well-being of many people, just as the heart is the center of our cardiovascular system.”
“We put out our antennae and listen to the needs of our patients according to the most recent insights. We also pick up social signals in combination with technological developments. I am particularly concerned about the ‘heart failure’ of the system. More and more general practitioners are closing their doors. They are left with a nagging feeling that they are no longer meeting the population’s needs. That is a system failure.” “Three years ago I studied health management at KU Leuven, but primary care is hardly discussed there.” Her plea: “We must invest fully in primary care, staff community health centers more, and focus more on social work and psychosocial assistance.”
It should be possible to target policy for this purpose. “But,” she did not avoid self-criticism, “as general practitioners we also have to think about how we position ourselves: as leaders or as part of a system between other employees.”
Finally, she gave a glimpse of a recently launched study on patient expectations. “A priority for patients is a committed and empathetic doctor who has an overview of their file and wants to continue to follow them throughout the entire process.” This is exactly how general practitioners want to remain involved with their patients, or else they will indeed close their doors.”
Treatment model
How to proceed with the treatment model is also the key question for the Genk laureate. Should we collaborate more, delegate more? I am happy with the evolution towards affordable primary psychological care. However, as a general practitioner you still have to make a lot of time for this, also in detecting psychosocial problems. That is and will certainly remain GP matter, these aspects are included in each of our consultations.”
She looked to the immediate future of the profession. “Relatively easy medical tasks will disappear to make way for team consultation and coordination, and this will automatically lead to fewer patient contacts. A necessary evolution, unfortunately. At the same time, we must continue to maintain sufficient contact with the patient to remain committed, confidential physicians. Let us not make the same mistake as the NHS in the United Kingdom where that bond has all but disappeared.”
She also linked these findings to a plea for higher quality of care and more digitalization and better use of the EMD. The fact that doctors still have to make so many manual changes when communicating about diagnoses in times when chat GPT is all the rage is outdated, she noted with a critical eye. “And why is a solid GP-hospital-pharmacist communication scheme so difficult to establish? It is urgent that the general practitioner is facilitated in his role as central care provider.”
With a cliché that is nevertheless a truism, she concluded: “The general practitioner profession remains the best, but to maintain that, more attention is needed for primary care, which must work more together, and room must be given to employ more general practitioners. to graduate.”
In closing, she did not forget to thank the colleagues in the circle “who submitted my candidacy behind my back. And of course her supervisor, Prof. Bert Vaes. Colleagues in the first line zone could also count on her gratitude and colleague Carmen Bosmans. Last but not least, her parents, partner and children of course.
> GP shortage: first stones are falling
Tags: vision Kaat Ieven Prize laureate Flemish Brussels general practitioner
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