Appropriate Care Line for Academic Workplace HOMELAND

Academic Workplace HOMELAND aims for better assistive devices for people with neuropathy to prevent amputations, save costs, and maintain their quality of life.

Aim

The goal of this project is to strengthen and further develop HOMELAND with a line of Appropriate Care (LPZ). Value is central to the LPZ: improving quality of life by improving walking, through orthopedic footwear that fits the user, and through foot and shoe care that is organized as optimally as possible.

Approach

To achieve this, they focus on 3 pillars that are fundamental to appropriate care and integrate them within HOMLAND through 3 work packages (WP). In WP1, they accelerate existing infrastructures: for orthopedic footwear the “Indication Portal” and the Data Workplace for (podiatric) foot care.  In the LPZ, they are generating knowledge to validate these infrastructures, so they can be developed into a practice-integrated infrastructure. In WP2, they strengthen the position of users. In WP3, they are building towards improving ecological sustainability by developing a tool that consolidates all available knowledge. 

Collaborative partners

Within this project they build upon the existing organization of the HOMELAND core team and will establish new collaborations to build an infrastructure to integrate the “Circle of Appropriate Use”. They also work together with experts in sustainable care and medical informatics, as well as the professional field and users, so everyone involved will gain insight into the ecological impact of treatment options. Additionally, they will continue to encourage exchanges between partners and strengthen equal collaboration through communication and implementation. 

Expected results 

With these initiatives, they ensure the strengthening and further development of HOMELAND, to continue working towards better assistive device care for people with neuropathy. The LPZ is therefore a highly relevant expansion of a well-established and broad multidisciplinary collaboration at the intersection of knowledge and practice, contributing to the development towards optimal, value-driven, and appropriate assistive device care. After all, if the orthopedic shoe fits, it will be worn!