PREMIUM Project 2026-2027: MUMC+ Prevention & Vitality

Develop an evidence-based implementation strategy to embed a vitality pathway into all disease-specific care pathways at Maastricht UMC+, identifying priorities, barriers, and enablers to make prevention and healthy lifestyle support a structural part of every patient’s healthcare journey.
  • MUMC

    The Project:

    Join the Program for Prevention and Vitality at Maastricht UMC+!

    Are you eager to make a real difference in healthcare? The Programme for Prevention and Vitality at Maastricht UMC+ is offering students a unique opportunity to contribute to a pioneering project that aims to integrate vitality into every stage of the patient journey.

    Our goal is to implement a healthcare pathway for vitality across all existing healthcare pathways at MUMC+. By promoting vitality throughout the patient journey, we aim to raise awareness among both patients and healthcare professionals about the importance of a healthy lifestyle. This awareness can inspire behavioural change, leading to healthier patients, reduced strain on the healthcare system, and better long-term outcomes.

    To implement this in a sustainable way, we received multiple recommendations, concluded from a previous PREMIUM project. Therefore, we have multiple questions that need answering by this year's PREMIUM students. For example: how can these recommendations be implemented? How can these recommendations be prioritized? Which hindering and facilitating factors play a role at patient, professional and organizational levels? And which implementation strategies are the most promising? 

    With the outcomes of the project, we can speed up the process of implementing the healthcare pathway for vitality in all the existent healthcare pathways in the MUMC+. With implementation of this healthcare pathway, we ensure that vitality is promoted throughout the patient journey. This leads to awareness of the importance of vitality in both patients and health care professionals. Awareness can lead to behavioural change and a better lifestyle for patients. And this will lead to less pressure on healthcare, which will become a big problem in the near future, with an increasing demand for healthcare in an elderly population and fewer healthcare professionals. This certainly applies for the region South Limburg. 

    As part of the team, you’ll have the chance to work closely with experts and gain valuable experience in a field that is shaping the future of healthcare. Together, we can help reduce healthcare pressures while improving patient well-being in an ageing population.
     

  • The Client:

    The Programme Prevention and Vitality is part of the Maastricht UMC+ and is therefore located both in the academic hospital of Maastricht (azM) and the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML). 

    The programme implements the MUMC+ strategic pillar of Prevention and Vitality and its ambition to be the National Knowledge and Expertise Center for Prevention and Vitality. The programme serves four target groups: citizens, patients, employees, and students. This project proposal targets patients in MUMC+. 

     

    Better healthcare isn't just a medical challenge. It's an implementation challenge. How do you turn good ideas about prevention and vitality into everyday practice across an entire hospital? Explore the roles of organisational change, behavioural science, strategy, communication and healthcare delivery, and bring your own disciplinary perspective to help make prevention a structural part of the patient journey. Whether you study health sciences, business, economics, psychology, sociology, communication or another field, your perspective can help bridge the gap between knowing that prevention matters and making it happen in practice.
  • Research Oriented

    In this project, the focus is on “discovering something new”


     
    Co-Creator Client

    This client might join the team for brainstorm sessions, meetings, and preparatory sessions. The co-creator is more actively involved in/during the project execution.