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This report presents the insights resulting from a large-scale study conducted by Tilburg University, in co-creation with Altuïtion. Before starting this project, little was known about onboarding experiences at work. Particularly, it was not known which newcomers’ experiences matter most; how they impact expectations and emotions; and how these eventually result in various work outcomes. Besides, the relevance of organizational context (e.g., consumer brand, employer brand) was relatively unexplored in predicting such experiences and outcomes. The lack of knowledge on these topics, formed the basis for this large-scale study of newcomers' experiences and the role of emotions and expectations. Even before deciding to apply for a job within an organization, newcomers are exposed to the reputation and the image of the organization. For example, through the employer brand or consumer brand. This may affect the expectations of newcomers. As soon as a new employees start in their new job, they get exposed to all sorts of events which we expect to influence emotions. In this study, we asked newcomers to describe the most impactful work event of the past week, then asked them what emotions they experienced at that moment and if this moment confirmed their expectations. These experiences ultimately were expected to lead to various work outcomes. Obviously, one hopes that the newcomers’ experiences are such that they also result in positive outcomes such as improved work engagement or lower turnover intentions. In this report, we describe the first results of our research that reflects input on over 500 impactful work events.

BACKGROUND: Cardiologists play a key role in multidisciplinary care by guiding heart failure (HF) management in the hospital and in the community. Regional implementation of multidisciplinary health care interventions depends on how they perceive collaboration with other health care disciplines, yet research on this topic is limited. This study aimed to explore the views and opinions of cardiologists on multidisciplinary collaboration in HF care. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative study based on face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 11 Belgian cardiologists between September 2019 and February 2020. We used the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven (QUAGOL) method as guidance for data analysis until data saturation was reached. RESULTS: Cardiologists consider the general practitioner (GP) and HF nurse as the most important partners in HF management. Cardiologists identified four problems in current multidisciplinary collaboration: the communication of a HF diagnosis to the patient, advanced care planning, titration of HF medication by the GP and electronic data exchange and communication. Three themes emerged as ideas for improvement of HF care: 1) expansion of the role of the HF nurse, 2) implementation of a structured, patient-centered, and flexible model of disease management program and 3) integrated data approaches. CONCLUSION: Cardiologists value close cooperation with GPs in HF management. They advocate an expanded future role for the HF nurse, increased eHealth, and structured disease management to optimize current HF care.

Contains fulltext : 218861.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access), OBJECTIVES: The present study investigated (1) trends in the prevalence and incidence of knee osteoarthritis over a 20-year period (1996-2015); (2) trends in multimorbidity and (3) trends in drug prescriptions. DESIGN: Registry-based study. SETTING: Primary healthcare, Flanders, Belgium. PARTICIPANTS: Data were collected from Intego, a general practice-based morbidity registration network. In the study period between 1996 and 2015, data from 440 140 unique patients were available. OUTCOME MEASURES: Trends in prevalence and incidence rate of knee osteoarthritis were computed using joinpoint regression analysis. The mean disease count was calculated to assess trends in multimorbidity. In addition, the number of drug prescriptions was identified by the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification code and trends were equally recorded with joinpoint regression. RESULTS: The total age-standardised prevalence of knee osteoarthritis increased from 2.0% in 1996 to 3.6% in 2015. An upward trend was observed with an average annual percentage change (AAPC) of 2.5 (95% CI 2.2 to 2.9). In 2015, the prevalence rates in the 10 year age groups from the 45-54 years age group onwards were 3.1%, 5.6%, 9.0% and 13.9%, to reach 15.0% in people aged 85 years and older. The incidence remained stable with 3.75 per thousand in 2015 (AAPC=-0.5, 95% CI -1.4 to 0.5). The mean disease count significantly increased from 1.63 to 2.34 (p<0.001) for incident cases with knee osteoarthritis. Finally, we observed a significantly positive trend in the overall prescription of acetaminophen (AAPC=6.7, 95% CI 5.6 to 7.7), weak opioids (AAPC=4.0, 95% CI 0.9 to 7.3) and glucosamine (AAPC=8.6, 95% CI 2.4 to 15.1). Oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were most prescribed, with a prevalence rate of 29.8% in 2015, but remained stable during the study period (AAPC=0.0, 95% CI -1.1 to 1.1). CONCLUSIONS: Increased prevalence, multimorbidity, and number of drug prescriptions confirm an increased burden of

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, countries have implemented various strategies to reduce and slow the spread of the disease in the general population. For countries that have implemented restrictions on its population in a step-wise manner, monitoring of COVID-19 prevalence is of importance to guide decision on when to impose new, or when to abolish old, restrictions. We are here determining whether measures of odor intensity in a large sample can serve as one such measure. Online measures of how intense common household odors are perceived and symptoms of COVID-19 were collected from 2440 Swedes. Average odor intensity ratings were then compared to predicted COVID-19 population prevalence over time in the Swedish population and were found to closely track each other (r=-0.83). Moreover, we found that there was a large difference in rated intensity between individuals with and without COVID-19 symptoms and number of symptoms was related to odor intensity ratings. Finally, we found that individuals progressing from reporting no symptoms to subsequently reporting COVID-19 symptoms demonstrated a large drop in olfactory performance. These data suggest that measures of odor intensity, if obtained in a large and representative sample, can be used as an indicator of COVID-19 disease in the general population. Importantly, this simple measure could easily be implemented in countries without widespread access to COVID-19 testing or implemented as a fast early response before wide-spread testing can be facilitated.

Ten years ago, European health care professional societies, health associations and members of the European Parliament convened in Brussels to discuss the necessary and urgent actions needed to improve access, initiation and follow up nutritional care for European citizens. As a response to this, in 2014 the Optimal Nutritional Care for All (ONCA) campaign was launched under the leadership of the European Nutritional for Health Alliance and its members. As of today this campaign has been rolled out in 18 European countries, whereby national multi-disciplinary platforms including patient groups work together to implement national nutritional care programs and develop good practices in care, research, education in order to increase awareness on malnutrition and improve nutritional care. This article describes the making of and evolution of the ONCA campaign, the outcomes and impact created, as well as opportunities to accelerate implementation of personalized nutritional care for all European citizens.

OBJECTIVES: Diagnosing chronic heart failure (CHF) in general practice is challenging. Our aim was to investigate how general practitioners (GPs) diagnose CHF in real-world patients. DESIGN: Think-aloud study. METHODS: Fourteen GPs were asked to reason about four real-world CHF cases from their own practices. The cases were selected through a clinical audit. This was followed by an interview to get a deeper insight in their reasoning. The Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven was used as a guide in data analysis. RESULTS: We developed a conceptual diagnostic model based on three important reasoning steps. First, GPs assessed the likelihood of CHF based on the presence or absence of HF signs and symptoms. However, this approach had serious limitations since GPs experienced many barriers in their clinical assessment, especially in comorbid elderly. Second, if CHF was considered based on step 1, the main influencing factor to take further diagnostic steps was the GPs' perception of the added value of a validated CHF diagnosis in that specific case. Third, the choice and implications of these further diagnostic steps (N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide, ECG and/or cardiac ultrasound) were influenced by the GPs' knowledge about these tests and the quality of the cardiologists' reports. CONCLUSION: This think-aloud study identified the factors that influenced the diagnostic reasoning about CHF in general practice. As a consequence, targets to improve this diagnostic reasoning were withheld: a paradigm shift towards an earlier and more comprehensive risk assessment with, among others, access to natriuretic peptide testing and convincing GPs of the added value of a validated HF diagnosis.

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In this study we investigated the influence of the olfactory and trigeminal sensation of an odourant on roughness perception. We expected that people would judge the tactile surface roughness of four sandpapers as higher when they were exposed to a substance with a trigeminal component (alcohol), and lower when they were exposed to Phenylethylalcohol (PEA, rose odour), compared to a no-odour (clean air) condition. Our results indicated that the participants could discriminate all four sandpapers on basis of their perceived roughness. However, there was no significant main effect of chemosensory and no significant interaction between chemosensory and sandpaper roughness. Despite the lack of significance, the results revealed that the mean rating responses on roughness were higher in the alcohol condition, and lower in the PEA-condition, compared to the no-odour condition. We also found a significant effect of gender for the roughness ratings in the PEA condition. Alternative explanations for the found results and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Multisensory information plays an important role in the perception of an environment. The current study investigated the interaction between color and sound on emotions. Furthermore, semantically congruent stimuli were tested whether their effects on emotion were stronger than their incongruent counterparts. Participants (N = 60) were recruited through the participant database provided by TNO. Along with Galvanic Skin Response, SAM scales were used to measure emotions before and during a stressful task. The rooms were either colored red or blue with a stressful or relaxing sound playing in the background. The repeated measures MANOVA revealed that participants in the blue room felt more in control when the sound was stressful compared to the relaxing sound. Participants felt more in control being in congruent conditions compared to incongruent conditions, but both findings turned out to be nonsignificant when controlling for age. The limited emotional response to colors and the subjective perception thereof made it difficult to find support for the hypotheses. Future research should therefore focus on sensory stimuli known for universal emotional effects and immune to subjective perception.

Science Education and Communication

Beheerders, landschapsarchitecten, beleidsmedewerkers, boomkwekers, groenbedrijven en wetenschappers waren op 24 september jl. te Noordwijk bijeen op het tweede seminar Bomen aan Zee. In het ochtendprogramma schetsten wethouder Dennis Salman van Noordwijk, Jandirk Hoekstra van H+N+S Landschapsarchitecten en Remco van der Togt van Strootman Landschapsarchitecten de context van een dynamische kust waar integraal aan de ontwerpopgaven wonen, werken, recreëren, toerisme én waterveiligheid van Nederland gewerkt wordt. Jandirk Hoekstra van H+N+S Landschapsarchitecten, tijdens het tweede seminar Bomen aan Zee: ‘Na de dijk-in-duinexercitie van Noordwijk aan Zee van enige jaren terug moet de gemeente beseffen dat met de huidige inzichten er over 50 jaar weer een majeure ingreep noodzakelijk zal zijn om de veiligheid te borgen.’ De Nederlandse kust is een dynamische kust en heeft permanente aandacht nodig in het kader van de kustverdediging. Grote kustwerken blijken overlast te bezorgen, maar trekken tegelijkertijd veel kijkers.