Lifelong learning for health care professionals - an interview with Terese Stenfors

Terese Stenfors is an associate professor in Medical Education at Karolinska Institutet and is the director of the Evaluation Unit. Her background is in Social Science and she’s previously worked with academic development.  Her current research explores the contribution of interpersonal relationships between patients and health care professionals to advance patient health care. As chronic illness and co-morbidity increases within our general population, these relationships assume a pivotal role. Patient-health care professional relationships have been described using concepts such as co-care, person-centered care, or collaborative care. These constructs all emphasize that healthcare requires a close interaction between patient and clinician – however, we understand little about how these concepts manifest in daily clinical practice, or how they influence the quality of patient care.Terese focuses on the variations in how such constructs are understood, and uses these variations as a starting point for dialogue and learning.