Health, Ageing and Society (MSc)

‘The idea that, as a doctor, you only treat a patient’s disease is no longer reality’.

Publication date: 11 June 2025

Anna hopes to become a general practitioner. Working with children particularly appealed to her in this profession. But of course, as a GP, you don't only see children. That's why Anna wanted to look into other patient groups. During her gap year, she therefore decided not to work or travel, but to gain new knowledge. Specifically about a completely different target group: the elderly. She chose the one-year master's programme Health, Ageing and Society (HAS). The master focuses on biological, individual and social aspects of healthy ageing, in medical, research and policy fields. For Anna, this meant a new perspective on elderly care.

In what ways has your view of the elderly changed after the master's?

"In the master's, we really learn to look at elderly people in a different way. When you think of an elderly person, you might immediately think of someone in need of help. But for some organisations, you are already ‘senior’ if you are over 65 years old. When you see that people are reaching 80 or 90 years of age, there is still a very long time in between. That is why the master's is mainly about how to keep elderly people involved in society. For this, we work together with elderly people from the 'Ouderenberaad Zuid-Holland Noord'. These are all people who want to help and mean something to society. This challenges you to look further, from an elderly person who needs help to how we can help elderly people to reach their maximum potential.''

How do you think the master's is helping you in your fellowships now?

"Mostly by looking at the complete picture. Okay, you have an elderly patient, but there is much more to that than just the disease. The disease is not your patient, it is part of your patient. I did a fellowship in geriatrics. That actually reflected everything I learnt in the master's. For instance, I thought much more about how an elderly patient maintains quality of life. For some that means going home, for others it means still being able to walk with a walker. Furthermore, I looked more at the risks. Not so much medically; that's what the doctor does. But I wondered what the patient's situation was before coming to hospital. Is the person actually managing at home? And is there family or a carer? You can't say you are a good doctor if they go home and you forgot to ask if they are doing well at home. I think this is still being underestimated - I used to do this myself."

You probably want to become a GP at this point, how do you think the master's will help you in this?

"I quite often see elderly people who have been in a hospital for three weeks, because they were only admitted at a point at which they really weren't able to proceed. As a GP, I would like to be able to identify that moment earlier. To see what is really going on behind a visit in the consulting room and help prevent the need for hospital admission. This way, I hope to be able to be a better doctor for elderly patients. The idea that as a doctor you only treat an illness in a patient has long since ceased to be reality. Thanks to the master's, I am more aware of the other challenges in the elderly target group."

Policy was something within the master's that you simultaneously found most challenging and most enjoyable. Why do you think that is?

"Policy is incredibly complicated. You have to think about so many things and take so many factors into account. What you do for one person may not be good for another. Then, for example, less money is budgeted for a particular cause. I therefore found writing a policy framework very challenging. But that challenge was incredibly fun at the same time. It helped me look at things even more critically. Why was a certain policy made that way? I have developed that critical eye more.’’

What are your plans after your fellowships?

"I was pretty sure I wanted to become a GP. Or at least wanted to go into primary care. During my fellowships, I do notice that the specialists try to convince us of their own specialism. And every specialism is in some way similar to that of GP. Still, I think I will do something in primary care. I would like to combine being a doctor with policy aspects. For example, in a working group advising the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. Or representing interests. It would be ideal if I could also fulfil that social role in that way."

How do you see your future as a medical specialist?

"On a higher level, I want to contribute to keeping healthcare available. The demand is growing, but there is too little money and too few people. Unfortunately, there currently is no solution to this problem. As a medical specialist, I hope to contribute to this. We all have to take responsibility for that."

"What I also hope is that all patients who walk out of my consultation feel that all their questions have been answered. Maybe even the questions they were initially afraid to ask. Because I now know which challenges are common in the elderly population, I will take more time to address these in the future."

LUMC offers lifelong learning. From training programmes to specialisations and refresher courses: we only have them under one roof. In the “Leven Lang Leren' (lifelong Learning) section, a student or course member tells how the study programme helps them progress in their career.

Published on the LUMC Intranet on 11 June 2025