Interview with Ximius top Consultant: Merel Bastiaansen

What about Ximius captured your attention?
Before I started working at Ximius, I had little knowledge on patient flow and capacity management. However, the theories behind the concept were appealing to me. The use of patient flow management and capacity management are not only beneficial for hospitals and its personnel but are also profitable for the delivery of the best healthcare possible. Another aspect about Ximius that is exciting to me is the constant development of new ideas and projects which motivates me to put even more effort in attempting to improving healthcare.
What do you believe will be important in the future of healthcare?
It is a well-known fact that healthcare is a scarce good and that the costs of the European healthcare are at the moment unsustainable. This means that the pressure on the healthcare system will increase and that “the right care in the right place at the right time” will become essential. Despite the efforts of our government, we are still forced to make choices in order to provide the best healthcare for everyone. These choices might entail certain types of care will not be in the basic health insurance package anymore or that we had to choose who receives care on the IC-unit and who did not during the COVID-pandemic. I personally believe that resorting in choice making will be unavoidable to sustain the healthcare system in the future.
How does your study and work contribute to that?
During the course of studying a master’s in Healthcare Science I’ve expanded my knowledge which enables me to view cases from different perspectives such as theories and points of views. I also learned to analyse issues from different professional domains with help of theoretical models and concepts. These tools help me to provide a justified recommendation.
Besides that, Ximius helps organisations to gain insight in the available data as a support of decision making. With the help of the numerical justification, I try to enable organisations to justify their choices to stakeholders and other persons involved and to filter the beneficial aspects from the insights.
What is your goal?
Continuous improvement! I believe that this word describes my goal on a working level as well as on a personal level. Referring to the personal aspect, I would like to see myself as a person who can motivate others to improve and advance. Nevertheless, this mindset also applies when I work. I would like to help organisations in their pursuit for continuous improvement.
Interviewer: Katarina Bork, Ximius