Improving Patient Care with Professor Jeroen Hendriks

​Born and raised in the south of the Netherlands, Jeroen Hendriks studied Nursing and Health Sciences at Maastricht University in the beautiful city of Maastricht. During his PhD he developed a specialised outpatient service for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), the most prevalent cardiac arrhythmia, at the Maastricht University Medical Centre. In a randomised controlled trial, he demonstrated effectiveness of this approach compared to usual care, in terms of reductions in hospitalisation and mortality in this population. In 2012 Jeroen was invited to deliver a keynote and present these results at the annual conference of the Australian Cardiovascular Health and Rehabilitation Association (ACRA) in Brisbane. Here he met a cardiologist with an interest in AF management, who invited him to do collaborative research in Adelaide. 
 

Move to Adelaide
After starting remote collaboration with the Adelaide research team, Jeroen moved to Adelaide in 2015 to join the team at the Centre for Heart Rhythm Disorders at the University of Adelaide. His research focusses on the development of innovative models of care delivery for patients with cardiovascular conditions, in particular AF. Based on the concept of integrated care, these models include a patient-centred approach, multidisciplinary teams, comprehensive treatment, and the use of technology to support the integrated approach. The team has demonstrated the importance of risk factor management and lifestyle modification as part of comprehensive treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, demonstrating improved clinical outcomes in patients. 
 
Professor of Cardiovascular Nursing
Early 2020 Jeroen had the opportunity to move to Flinders University to take up the Inaugural Leo J Mahar Cardiovascular Nursing Chair. This Professorial role is a clinical-academic joint appointment between the Caring Futures Institute, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University and the Department of Heart and Lung at the Central Adelaide Local Health Network. In this role he aims to generate multidisciplinary research in the clinical setting which guides the development of a collaborative of academic and clinical excellence. Besides his work in Adelaide, Jeroen has ongoing collaborations with the Department of Cardiology at the Maastricht University Medical Centre and is actively involved within the European Society of Cardiology and the Heart Rhythm Society in the United States. 
 
Please connect with Jeroen through LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeroenhendriksausse or Twitter: @J_Hendriks1