My job at the 'Living Lab in Ageing and Long-term Care' (Academische Werkplaarts Ouderenzorg Zuid-Limburg, AWO-ZL) is a perfect combination of healthcare, science and education. The living lab, which is a Academic Collaborative Centre on Care for Older People (ACC-OP), is a formal multidisciplinary network consisting of Maastricht University, seven large long-term care organizations, Gilde Intermediate Vocational Training Institute and Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, all located in the southern part of the Netherlands. The model was developed in 1998 as collaboration between Maastricht University and one long-term care organization. Now we cover seven long-term care organizations, including about 100 care locations and about 15,000 long-term care staff. In this living lab we aim for structural multidisciplinary collaboration between research, policy, education and practice. This is essential to improve quality of long-term care in nursing homes.
