Personal information
Jenny van der Steen is an epidemiologist working in the field of care for nursing home residents with dementia. Previous research includes a prospective follow-up study on pneumonia in patients with dementia in 61 Dutch nursing homes and a study on evaluation of guidelines whether to treat pneumonia curatively or palliatively, the “Pneumonia Study.” This study resulted in a number of publications on methods to develop and evaluate guidelines, the practice of withholding curative treatment, prognostic models for mortality from nursing home-acquired pneumonia, distressing symptoms related to pneumonia, and reliability and validity of an important observational instrument to assess discomfort in patients with dementia (DS-DAT). The developed guideline was authorised by the Dutch Society for Nursing Home Physicians. Subsequently, in an international collaboration project, data collected in the Pneumonia Study were combined with simultaneously collected data in a similar study in Missouri of prof. D.R. Mehr et al. This study was supported by the US National Institutes of Health, and by ZonMw, the Netherlands. The main goals of this US-Dutch Dementia and Pneumonia Project were to determine the optimal treatment strategy for specific subgroups of nursing home residents with dementia, and to determine long-term prognosis including mortality and functional decline. We additionally reported on differences in treatment strategy between the US and the Netherlands, validated Dutch prognostic models for mortality after pneumonia with Missouri data, and developed an evidence-based definition of severe dementia. An ongoing 5-year prospective study on end of life with dementia (Dutch end of life with dementia study, DEOLD, "Zorg bij Dementie") assesses factors associated with decision making, treatments, patient suffering, and family satisfaction. Collaboration with similar projects in the US, Israel, Italy, and Belgium will result in important recommendations in areas where care needs improvement. Other ongoing studies on end of life in nursing homes include studies on spirituality, an evaluation of a booklet for families on comfort care, and a study testing of specific instruments to assess end of life with dementia.
Awards
2010 - Vidi career award of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO, Innovational Research Incentives Scheme)
http://www.nwo.nl/nwohome.nsf/pages/NWOP_8BCCY3
http://www.emgo.nl/news-and-events/news/86/a-vidi-grant-for-dr-jenny-van-der-steen-/
2009 - EAPC Young Investigators Award, first prize for an outstanding contribution to palliative care, European Association of Palliative Care
http://www.eapcnet.org/Vienna2009/YoungInvestAward.html
2005 - Veni career award of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO, Innovational Research Incentives Scheme) http://www.vu.nl/nl/onderzoek/onderzoekers/nwo-vernieuwsingsimpuls-laureaten/veni/index.asp
http://www.vu.nl/en/research/topresearchers-at-vu/nwo-iris-laureates/veni/index.asp
2002 - "Volksgezondheidsprijs 2002" for dissertation; best work in public health in the Netherlands, Annual award from the “Vereniging voor Volksgezondheid en Wetenschap"
http://www.verenigingvenw.nl/jaarverslag2002.pdf