PhD PROGRAM. The initiative at the Institute of Health and Care Sciences for research teaching assistants has paid off handsomely. Sara Wallström, who was among the first nursing students to enroll in the teaching assistant program, has obtained her PhD.
Dr. Wallström caught sight of a note on the bulletin board one day seven years ago when was in her last semester of the nursing program. The department had never tried to educate research teaching assistants before.
“I had always been fascinated by research and was already mulling the idea around in my mind,” Dr. Wallström says. “I didn’t hesitate for a minute and was overjoyed when I received a one-year appointment.”
Students in the driver’s seat
Students who would like to be teaching assistants do not need any prior knowledge. They must, however, be enrolled at the institute and have completed a certain number of semesters.
“The most important criterion is a genuine interest in education or research,” says Irma Lindström. She has been deeply involved in the teaching assistant program at the institute from the very start.
“Everything we do proceeds from the needs and interests of the individual student. Our overriding goal is to stimulate and encourage a burgeoning interest in research, and we go out of our way to find a project that matches the student’s particular orientation.”
To join the teaching assistant program, Dr. Wallström needed to be enrolled as a student. Given that she was in her last semester, she took the opportunity to obtain a master’s degree in nursing science. Meanwhile, she was working full-time as a nurse and had a 20% appointment as a teaching assistant at the institute.
“My project concerned patient-centered care for those with chronic heart failure,” Dr. Wallström says, “with the goal of improving hospital services. I gathered data, reviewed patient charts and assumed responsibility for administrative research duties.”
During her period as a teaching assistant, Dr. Wallström also participated in other projects. For a while, she worked half-time each on her master’s degree, as a project assistant at the institute and as a nurse at Sahlgrenska University Hospital. She subsequently decided to leave her teaching assistant appointment.
A bold move
The teaching assistant program at the Institute of Health and Care Sciences started in 2009 following a proposal by the student council. Inger Ekman, the head of the department, liked the idea and decided to take it a step further. She set up not only a teaching assistant track in the education program, but for research as well.
“We announced two appointments for each track,” Dr. Ekman recalls, “but we received so many promising applications for research that we made a bold move and appointed seven people there.”
Nursing is a relatively new field of research. The institute was looking to train research teaching assistants and finally started its own PhD program in 2000. Nurses traditionally work for many years before embarking on research. Because they tend to obtain their PhDs when they are older, they do not pursue active research as long as practitioners of other disciplines. By the same token, they have less time to qualify for more advanced research appointments. From that point of view, the research teaching assistant track represented a strategic, long-time initiative by the institute.
“We need many young senior lecturers who conduct research,” Dr. Lindström says. “Having obtained her PhD so early in her career, Dr. Wallström is well positioned to become a leading researcher. Nursing science has taken a new fork in the road and it will benefit the entire academic community.”
Patient experience of takotsubo
Dr. Wallström defended her thesis early this year. Though the subject of her research was a condition popular known as broken heart syndrome, she is not fond of the term. She prefers takotsubo, the Japanese expression. The disease, for which no medical explanation has been found, can cause acute, temporary heart failure. Women are much more likely to be afflicted than men. The conventional wisdom had been that the potential complications of takotsubo syndrome were a good deal milder than those of typical myocardial infarction. Dr. Wallström’s thesis, however, found that many victims experience fatigue, poorer endurance, pain, general malaise and shortness of breath long after discharge from the hospital.
“The symptoms are every bit as severe and common as among individuals with myocardial infarction,” Dr. Wallström says. “Their self-rated health is poorest at the time of acute heart failure and improves for the next six months. The results of my research suggest that their social circumstances affect their experience of health. Patient-centered working methods enable medical care to incorporate self-rated health data to provide better support during convalescence.”
Ten years at the institute
During her period in the PhD program, Dr. Wallström was also active as a student representative at various levels of the university. As a result, she is well acquainted with how the place works.
“Trying out new approaches and having the opportunity to advocate for your point of view is extremely rewarding,” Dr. Wallström says. “It wasn’t easy at the beginning until I learned to put issues in an historical context. But if anyone has the chance to serve as a representative at the management level, I recommend that they take the plunge.” Her doctoral training was extended by almost a year due to all the volunteer posts she had accepted.
Shortly before obtaining her PhD, Dr. Wallström celebrated her tenth anniversary at the Institute for Health and Nursing Science –starting in the nursing program, followed by an appointment as a research teaching assistant and participant in a research project, and finally the PhD program.
“What a decade it has been,” Dr. Wallström says. “Having been here so long and knowing so many people has worked to my advantage. Not to mention that the institute now provides a secure, stable foundation for my future career.” And as a postgraduate researcher, she will be an even greater asset to the institute.
Dr. Wallström defended Health in Connection with Takotsubo Syndrome: Experiences, Symptoms and Utilization of Health Care on January 13, 2017. The entire thesis is available at https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/48659
