The purpose of this project is to develop knowledge for the design and implementation of networked care starting from a human-centered design research perspective. Where care traditionally is organised to optimize professional efficiency for each medical discipline separately, this hampers the overall quality, experience, value and flow of care for the patient. Networked care, i.e. a coordinated way in which care providers work together to improve the health outcome of individual patients, seems a promising solution.

The project will focus on hand-wrist orthopedic care. Diagnosing and treating acquired hand and wrist pathology is challenging. Many disciplines are involved and interventions range from surgical to non-surgical treatment, including a splint or brace prescription, physiotherapy, pain medication, and psychosocial therapy. In addition, there is an international debate in progress concerning instability and complaints in the wrist in which two main viewpoints seem to oppose each other: (1) Diagnosing and treatment based on imaging and invasive diagnostics measurement. (2) Diagnosing and treatment based on psychosocial patient characteristics. This makes the field of hand-wrist orthopedics an interesting yet challenging case study to investigate the added value and practical implementation of networked care.

In this human-centered project, the requirements from a sociotechnical system's perspective are taken as a starting point, taking both viewpoints into account with the various actors (i.e. patient, caregivers, health professionals, employers) in the network able to add value to the patient's individual care system.

About your role
The goal of the project will be achieved through: (1) Investigating the needs, values, facilitators and barriers of all stakeholders involved in networked orthopedic care, by using human-centered design and human factors research techniques (i.e. a sociotechnical system perspective including stakeholder mapping, context mapping and patient journey mapping), (2) Developing a theoretical framework for networked care in hand-wrist orthopedics and identify opportunities for (digital) support; and (3) Developing, prototyping and evaluating support for networked care in hand-wrist orthopedics.

This PhD will result in knowledge of contextual challenges and information needs for the implementation of human-centered networked care in hand-wrist orthopedics, an evaluated proposal for the implementation of networked care in hand-wrist orthopedics, and guidance for designers, end-users and policy makers on the implementation of networked care in general.

You should have:

• an undergraduate degree in design, human factors, psychology or a related discipline;
• hold, or nearing completion of, a Masters degree in industrial design, psychology, or a related discipline;
• evidence of experience in qualitative research methods;
• prior paid or voluntary work experience;
• evidence of excellent communication and organisational skills;
• prior experience in conducting implementation research in health care would also be an advantage;
• good level of English and Dutch (written and oral);
• applicants must meet the MSCA Eligibility Criteria, see the Tools4Teams Recruitment process for more information.

This PhD position is funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) of the European Union's "Horizon Europe 2022" research and innovation program under grant agreement No 101072843. You will be appointed as fulltime PhD for 4 years at the Amsterdam UMC in the Netherlands. The MSCA programme offers competitive and attractive working conditions. The successful candidates will receive a salary in accordance with the MSCA regulations for doctoral candidates. Gross salary will consist of a Living Allowance (= €40.800/year, correction factor to be applied for The Netherlands: 1.09) and a monthly Mobility Allowance of €600. An additional monthly allowance of €660 is applicable depending on family situation. For Marie Skłodowska-Curie doctoral candidates in the Netherlands, the level of the living allowance plus mobility allowance is typically equal to or slightly lower than the obligatory minimum salary level for PhDs according to Dutch law. Please be aware that these amounts are subject to taxes, the exact salary will be confirmed upon appointment. The research project should result in a PhD thesis.

Amsterdam UMC

You will join the Research section Quality and Organisation of Care at the Department of Public and Occupational Health at the Amsterdam University Medical Center and will collaborate closely with the Department of Human-Centered Design of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at Technical University of Delft. The research will be embedded in the Quality of Care program of the Amsterdam Public Health research institute, offering a strong multidisciplinary research network and facilities.

You will complete two secondments during your studies. The second year starts with a three month secondment at the company Caresharing, to work on iterative design of the tailored information integration platform for transmural elderly care teams. In the third year, a three months secondment follows at Valide AS in Stavanger (Norway) to obtain insight in cross-national differences is challenges and use of support tools for transmural elderly care teams.

AmsterdamUMC is part of an EU-funded doctoral network, "Tools4Teams" that investigates different instruments and tools to support teamwork in different parts of the healthcare system. Tools are technical as well as procedural. The network allows the various PhD candidates in a variety of European countries to meet and to learn with and from each other and the collective group of PhD supervisors. The consortium brings together the leading researchers on team processes in their various forms and applications. The network activities will support the mutual exchange of candidates and supervisors in unique ways, such as spring and winter schools and network wide meetings with both academic and non-academic partners. For more information see 'tools4teams.org'.