ConsultAssistent is developed for doctors, by doctors. Since December, Wendy Enthoven has therefore joined us as Medical Head. As a general practitioner, PhD and with experience teaching at Erasmus MC, she is the medical voice on the floor at ConsultAssistent.

You are a family physician yourself and make the remarkable move to ConsultAssistant. "It's a very conscious choice. What drives me is that through ConsultAssistent I can make a difference for many more patients than I could as a GP.

You want to help as many patients as possible as best you can, but your time is limited. We also see it in the departments we work with every day. If you know more in advance, you can initiate processes in the same limited time, such as requesting additional research. And during consultations you can go deeper, get further during the conversation. After all, the patient no longer has to explain everything to you because you already have a fully completed history."

A question of conscience: as far as you are concerned, is ConsultAssistent there more for the specialist or for the patient? "Very sincere answer: really for both. In fact, good preparation and information beforehand helps people themselves. Because patients are asked beforehand about their wishes or goal of the consultation, they are made to think. Especially if you offer it very low-threshold, with questionnaires as short as possible and in understandable language, the patient comes to the consultation much better prepared."

"In my role, I help ConsultAssistent speak the same language as the specialists with whom we develop our modules."

"What you may not think about as readily is that the benefit of that good preparation carries over into the entire diagnosis and treatment process. Because what is very pleasant for both patients and specialists is that fewer check-up consultations are needed. Because the first consultation is so effective, a person does not always need to come back. That's extra time for the specialist and saves travel and time for the patient. "

What does "learning with each patient" mean in practice? "That many patients give permission to analyze their ConsultAssistant data means we can learn from all these patients. With this huge pool of interesting data, we do research. Based on the data and in consultation with medical specialists, we come up with insights that - with or without ConsultAssistent - make care better and more patient-centered."

What difference do you want to make for your fellow physicians? "You see a lot of technology being used in healthcare primarily for diagnostics and treatment. However, you see much less technology that supports the care process. While there is a lot to be gained there for both the doctor and the patient. In healthcare, we are busy doing things that cost a lot of time and energy unnecessarily. Not even consciously or on purpose, but because there is little attention to change it.

Or rather, we don't have enough time to give it attention. That's why I like the fact that ConsultAssistent actually contributes to a better process."

"That good preparation works through the entire diagnosis and treatment process."

"And of course I remain a doctor, which also helps. Among many doctors, there is often a feeling of 'if you're not a doctor, then you don't understand exactly how it works.' It stems from the way of working that you unfortunately see in healthcare software vendors. Then they build something big first and then think about how the practice should adapt to it. So we do that the other way around."

"In my role, I help ConsultAssistent speak as much as possible the same language as the specialists with whom we also develop our modules. That way we can really connect to the practice and what is important there. For both doctor and patient."