Biography

Nienke Bleijenberg, RN, PhD, is an assistant professor Nursing Science at the University Medical Center Utrecht and a professor (In Dutch: Lector) at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, the Netherlands. She worked for many years as a district nurse in Utrecht with mostly geriatric patients living at home with high complex care needs. During her work it became apparent to her that scientific knowledge is needed in order to change and improve the care for older people and the gap between knowledge and practice. During her PhD study she developed a multicomponent proactive primary care program to enhance daily functioning of multimorbid, frail older people. In an ambitious randomized controlled trial, 52 primary care centers, over 3000 patients and more than 350 caregivers participated. Moreover, Dr. Bleijenberg developed a training program for the nurses in collaboration with the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht. During her work as a PhD student Nienke completed the Post Graduate Master Epidemiology at Utrecht University. Since 2014 she works one-day a week at Leidsche Rijn Julius Health Care Centers to implement the care program and enhance clinical practice. Since 2012 she is involved as a teacher and coordinator at the master Clinical Health Sciences, Nursing Science (UU). Since 2014 she is a yearly visiting scholar at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Division of Geriatrics, working with Dr Kenneth Covinsky and Dr Alexander Smith.

Her current research program focuses on the preservation of daily functioning, prevention of acute events, and improving quality of care and patient outcomes of frail older people and those with multimorbidity living at home. Futhermore, she is focusing on the role, impact and patient outcomes of district nursing care. Nienke is a supervisor of 5 PhD students, receveid 11 grants (2.1M)  She has published over 30 international peer reviewed publications, 15 practice publications and contributed to three book publications.  Her knowledge extends to nursing, geriatrics in primary care, home care, and epidemiology

Nienke is a member of the National Association of Nurses, and a fellow of the European Association of Nursing Scientists. She is currently chair of the research group Care for Older people at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, the Netherlands