About the project
In 2006-08, we performed a randomized controlled trial where the aim was to examine whether a 20-hour course could change hospital doctors' communication behavior. This led to a PhD thesis completed in 2011.
In the study, we collected 497 video recordings of doctor-patient visits. 380 of these were available for further studies through broad consent.
The videos have led to two PhD theses (2015, 2018), three postdoctoral studies and two new data collections in several externally funded studies.
About 40% of the video material is RIAS coded and transcribed. Anonymized transcriptions are available for research via the text laboratory of the University of Oslo.
Results
Communication research at Akershus University Hospital has attracted international interest, and has led to us having a Fulbright scholar as a visiting researcher in 2015-16 and we are having a new one in 2023-24.
In total, more than 40 scientific articles, a number of book chapters and a textbook have been published.
The communication studies was used as a stepping-stone in the development of a regional teaching program with the focus to providing expertise to specialists in how to do supervision, coaching, and evaluation of specialists in training.
Financing
With funding from The Directorate of Health and The Regional Health Trust of Southeast Norway, a project-based network was established. It includes researchers from the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and all universities in Norway.
The network holds an annual international workshop in Lørenskog, Norway with approx. 50-60 participants. Read more at OCHER (Oslo Communication in Healthcare Education and Research).
The University of Oslo allocated infrastructure funds to build a communication laboratory, completed in December 2012. The laboratory is used for teaching and for the study on information for patients with multiple sclerosis.
Innovation funding was granted from the Norwegian Directorate of Health and the Regional Health Trust of Southeast Norway and has led to the funding of a company, Somsagt Inc., a business concept that offer communication courses for Norwegian doctors. Akershus University Hospital and The University of Oslo are co-owners of the company.
Cooperation
About 30 people in Norway and abroad are linked to various substudies.