PhD defence: Linda Wike Ljungblad

Portrett av Linda Wike Ljungblad som ser i kamera og smiler
Copyright: USN

Linda Wike Ljungblad will defend her PhD degree in Person-centred health care. The dissertation is about preparing midwifery students for newborn resuscitation.

19 Dec

Practical information

  • Date: 19 December 2023
  • Time: 10.00 - 15.30
  • Location: Vestfold, A1-30 and Zoom
  • Download calendar file

    • Watch the defence on Zoom here
    Meeting ID: 656 1571 2702
    Password: 946214

    Program

    Kl. 10.00: Trial lecture: How to maintain proficiency after initial training about CPR, and what studies have evaluated different approaches to this subject?

    Kl. 12.00: Public defence: Preparing midwifery students for newborn resuscitation

    Evaluation committee

    • First opponent: Ola Andersson, associate professor, Lunds Universitet
    • Second opponent: Helena Lindgren, professor, Karolinska Institutet
    • Administrator of the committee: Glenn-Egil Torgersen, professor, USN

    Supervisors

    • Principal supervisor: Bente Dahl, professor, USN
    • Co-supervisors: Kirsti Skovdahl, professor, USN/Høgskolen i Østfold and Brendan McCormack, professor, University of Sydney
    • Mentor: Christina Furskog Risa, associate professor, Universitetet i Stavanger
Any questions?

Linda Wike Ljungblad is defending her thesis for the degree philosophiae doctor (PhD) at the University of South-Eastern Norway.

She has completed the PhD programme in Person-centred health care. The doctoral work has been carried out at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences.

Both the trial lecture and the PhD defence are open to the public.

Summary

"The biggest fear is when a newborn baby is not breathing after birth" (Midwife #6)

Between 4 and 10% of all newborn babies need help to start breathing after birth. Midwives experience that these kind of unforeseen events often happen “out of the blue”. Immediately after birth, time is critical, and several tasks must be performed simultaneously. In the case of unforeseen, challenging and complex events, the midwife is responsible for identifying the need for resuscitation. 

This thesis is about preparing midwifery students for newborn resuscitation. The results from interviews and workshops with midwives and midwifery students in this thesis show that resuscitation of newborns is a lifelong learning process that starts in midwifery education. A preliminary newborn resuscitation course tailored for midwifery students is described in this thesis. The course consists of concrete learning outcomes and learning activities and has been developed in co-creation process. The training should occur in a safe culture where emotional reactions are acknowledged. Midwives' role and responsibility should be in focus when preparing midwifery students for newborn resuscitation.