Public defence: Elin Saga

Elin Saga will defend her PhD degree in Person-centred health care. The dissertation explores task-shifting in the Emergency Department.

24 Jan

Practical information

  • Date: 24 January 2025
  • Time: 10.00 - 15.00
  • Location: Vestfold, Vestfold Hospital, Auditorium C-U1-071
  • Download calendar file

    • Follow the defence here

    Program 

    10.00. Trial Lecture: "Theoretical and practical models for learning, training and task shifting in the health service".

    12.00. Public defence: «Task-shifting in the Emergency Department»

    Evaluation committee

    • First Opponent: Doctor and og Associate Professor Stine Bolme, St. Olavs Hospital HF and NTNU
    • Second opponent:  Professor Ewa-Lena Bratt, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
    • Administrator: Professor Vibeke Sundling, University of South-Eastern Norway

    Supervisors

    • Principal Supervisor: Professor and Rector Pia Cecilie Bing-Jonsson,  University of South-Eastern Norway
    • Co-supervisors:
      • Specialist in anesthesia and internal medicine Espen Lindholm, Vestfold Hospital and University of Oslo
      • Professor Kirsti Skovdahl, Østfold University College  
      • Associate Professor II and Statistician Ragnhild Sørum-Falk, University of South-Eastern Norway and University of Oslo

     

Any questions?

Elin Saga 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 increasing proportion of elderly people in the population creates a greater demand for healthcare services, while fewer healthcare professionals are available to meet these needs. This underscores the importance of finding effective solutions to better utilize existing healthcare resources. Elin Saga - bilde til disputasomtale

Task-shifting, where nurses take over tasks traditionally performed by doctors, has been considered a possible solution to address this challenge.

This study investigates how task-shifting can be implemented in emergency departments, focusing on hip fracture patients who receive pain relief through ultrasound-guided femoral nerve block.

The study included nurses who were trained to perform the procedure, anesthesiologists who continued to perform the block as the control group, and patients who received pain relief. The results showed that the nurses, after training, had sufficient skills to perform the procedure, and the patients experienced good pain relief. There was no significant difference in pain relief between the nurse group and the standard control group, but the procedure was performed more quickly by the nurses.

The training was conducted through a one-day course and practical guidance in a clinical context, and the results indicated that a well-structured training program could provide nurses with the necessary skills.

Patients in the nurse group felt safe and well taken care of, though some expressed concerns about the number of people involved in the treatment.

Interviews with doctors and leaders highlighted that task-shifting is not only about distributing tasks but also about fostering a culture of collaboration, responsibility, and person-centred care.

This points to the need for further research on how task-shifting can be implemented in a comprehensive and effective way within the healthcare system.