“The human factor must always remain our compass”
&width=710&height=710 "Maxime Kummeling")
The title of your lecture is “Kwali-tijd in de Urologie: van eed tot AI’. Why did you choose this theme?
“Because I see every day how much impact time, explanation, calmness, and suitable choices have on patients. And at the same time, how scarce time has become for healthcare professionals. Medicine has become increasingly technical and burdened with administrative duties, which risks losing sight of the human side. Good care is about quality of life and quality of time, for both patients and caregivers (kwali-tijd). The human factor must always remain our compass.”
What are some key research lines you and your team are working on?
“Our department works on diverse research lines, ranging from fundamental research into treatments for urological cancers to patient-centered care. Other lines focus on pelvic physiotherapy in Parkinson’s disease and sexological research. In all our non-fundamental studies, the concept of ‘kwali-tijd’ is central.
“I personally focus on research into functional complaints, such as incontinence and its impact on sexuality, and on functional consequences for people who have undergone pelvic surgery for cancer. Finally, I hope to study how we can better predict which women with stress incontinence benefit from pelvic physiotherapy and who would be better helped with surgery.”
What role do education and care play in your vision for this field?
“Education and care cannot exist separately. Good education teaches future doctors not only what they can do, but above all what is meaningful to do, and what is not. I want students and residents to learn to connect clinical knowledge with the life behind a complaint: work, relationships, autonomy, and time. In addition, caregivers themselves should also experience enough ‘kwali-tijd’: space to interpret, listen, and weigh options.”
What is something from recent years that really stayed with you?
“Patients who later say they would have made different choices if they had better understood what a treatment would actually do to them. For example, men who, after prostate surgery, find that incontinence or changes in sexuality have more impact than they could imagine beforehand. Also, women with stress incontinence still too often hear they ‘just have to learn to live with it.”
What will society see as a result of your work?
“My work should make care more accessible and appropriate, especially for women with stress incontinence. That means: better information, timely correct treatment, fewer unnecessary or prolonged trajectories, and more attention to how someone functions and experiences their time.
“For example, our research showed that knowledge about treatments and aids differs greatly between primary and secondary care, meaning women sometimes receive very different options depending on where they enter the system. This combination of underexposed consequences and unequal access confirms why it is so important to keep focusing on this.”
“For oncological care, it means we look not only at technical outcomes like scans and complications, but also at how someone functions afterward: work, mobility, sexuality, and daily life. This makes care more humane and sustainable, with less wasted time for patients and caregivers.”
If we may dream, where do you hope the field will be in 10 to 15 years?
“I hope we will then deliver care that truly starts with the person, not the condition. That treatments are chosen based on what suits someone, instead of ‘one size fits all’. And that artificial intelligence (AI) gives caregivers time back: time to listen, interpret, and decide together.
“I also dream of a healthcare system where women with incontinence no longer have to search, but automatically end up in the right place, with a clear care pathway and equal options. And of a urology where quality of life and quality of time are self-evident outcome measures.”
