Diederik Gommers to leave the Outbreak Management Team

Diederik Gommers will step down in February as the chair of the Netherlands Association for Intensive Care (NVIC). In doing so, he will also no longer participate as a member of the Outbreak Management Team (OMT). The intensive care doctor confirmed the decision following a report by NU.nl. His term as chair of the NVIC, and as a regularly invited expert for the OMT, will end in four months after a six-year run.

Gommers enjoyed being an OMT member, but he said he regretted that there was a lack of transparency about the topics discussed in team meetings. "This makes it come across as if we have one opinion, but it would have been better if the meetings had been public and if citizens or journalists could observe them. Now, it seems like it was secretive," said the ICU doctor.

“Science is something beautiful. Through discussion with everyone, you try to reach consensus. We also do that with our complex patients, when we also do not share one opinion. Then we ask different experts for their overview, and we set a course of action. This also happens at the OMT.”

In early February, there will be a general meeting of members, and a new NVIC chair will be elected, says Gommers. He wants his successor to prioritize the cooperation of hospitals. "Hospitals were always each other's competitors, but you become stronger when you work together. We've already made great strides in that direction, but the next step is to make that a reality."

Gommers, who will continue his work as the head of the ICU at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, wants to focus on his department next year. "We want to look for innovative solutions that will make work in the ICU easier, and above all more fun, with more attention on patients. Right now, we are too preoccupied with administration and things like that. That can deter people from the nursing profession. So we also want to adjust the education to attract more students and solve the nurse shortage."