De Lind van Wijngaarden, a cardio-thoracic surgeon at Amsterdam UMC, completed the MBA Healthcare Management at the Amsterdam Business School (ABS) in May of this year. His award-winning thesis project demonstrates how combining clinical expertise with management and data analytics can lead to tangible improvements in healthcare.

Improving outcomes after heart surgery

His research focuses on reducing reinterventions for bleeding after cardiac surgery, an important challenge that affects patient recovery, healthcare costs and quality of life. By analysing national cardiac registry data, he identified opportunities to reduce the number of reinterventions, which resulted in less kidney failure, blood transfusions, and duration of hospital stay. The findings contribute directly to safer and more efficient cardiac surgical care.

From operating theatre to organisational improvement

The award-winning project was carried out as an In-Company Thesis at Amsterdam UMC. By combining his daily work as a cardio-thoracic surgeon with the perspectives and tools from the MBA Healthcare Management, Rob was able to link practical clinical challenges to management and quality improvement in healthcare organisations. The year following improvement, these efforts resulted in a 16% reduction in reinterventions, translating into significant savings in CO₂ emissions and almost €300k in costs.

Supervision from the Business Analytics section

The project was supervised by Marit Schoonhoven (Business Analytics section) at the Amsterdam Business School. She supported the design and execution of the study, in particular the use of registry data and quantitative analysis to underpin quality improvement in cardiac care.

Recognised for measurable impact

With the NHR Quality Award, the Netherlands Heart Registration highlights improvement projects in cardiac care that are based on registry data. To qualify for the award, projects must show contributions to quality of care and quality of life along 4 dimensions:

1. Measurable
2. Network
3. Innovative
4. Organisation

This thesis project meets these criteria by using measurable outcomes from national registry data, working across clinical and organisational boundaries, applying innovative analytical methods and embedding the results in the organisation of care at Amsterdam UMC.

The award highlights the value of integrating medical expertise, data-driven decision-making and healthcare management to improve patient outcomes. This illustrates how the MBA Healthcare Management programme equips professionals to lead meaningful change in healthcare.