I have always found teamwork enjoyable. Working with rehabilitation and reablement for older people, aiming to help them achieve a manageable daily life and high quality of life in light of their often-complex needs, often require the involvement of several professions. Teamwork in this context is like building a puzzle where everyone contributes their expertise to create a whole. Working closely with colleagues from other professions has encouraged me to reflect on how each of us sees the individual’s problems and needs through a different lens; even if we receive the same information about the individual and make our assessment in the same environment, such as a home visit, we perceive and assess things differently. This lens is shaped by our education, making each profession unique. I have personally experienced both excellent co-operations with other professions and competition between professions when the financial resources would become tighter. In situations where we are forced to prioritise, it is, unfortunately, the differences, rather than the similarities and co-creation, that become more apparent and compete with one another. The approach becomes exclusive rather than inclusive.
One of my main focus areas while working in municipal health care for older people was fall prevention. After a few years, a research project on the effects of preventive home visits to older people in the municipality was initiated. The nurses who were working on the project experienced that older people often spoke about falls and fear of falling, which is why they thought a physiotherapist should also be involved in the project. My work in that project encompassed close collaboration with the nurses during home visits and I joined a research group as a PhD student, that mainly consisted of nurses. This was the beginning of a slightly different, and somewhat unexpected, career path that has led me to teaching and supervising at the Nursing program at a Swedish university, teaching anatomy, physiology, and research methodology as well as the program director for an online Master’s program in Health Sciences. The contacts I made as a PhD student have given way to collaborations in various interprofessional contexts, and in my further career as a researcher, I have continued to expand my collaboration with different professions. However, working at the Nursing program I also encountered some resistance, both among nurses and physiotherapists. A physiotherapist colleague of mine told me: ‘Do not teach them everything you know, otherwise they will take our jobs!’.
Health science research encompasses a wide range of disciplines, professions, organisations, perspectives, settings, life stages, and disease states, with a clear focus on person-centeredness. My research has a broad approach aimed at people who have or are at risk of developing physical disabilities due to acute illness or ageing. The focus is on identifying and minimising health risks and, where appropriate, improving well-being and health through physical activity and exercise, focusing on body function, activity, and participation. My research ranges from prevention to rehabilitation and specifically cancer rehabilitation, and further to palliative care with the common goal that the person, based on their preferences and abilities, should experience well-being and a manageable everyday life. I have had the opportunity to work in specialised palliative care and experienced very close teamwork with doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, dieticians, and social workers. Compared with my work in municipal care for older people, there were more pieces of the puzzle (i.e., professions) to work with, which made it possible to create a complete puzzle (i.e., holistic care) while addressing the patients’ complex care needs. Here I experienced that the more complex the individual’s needs are, the greater the need for well-functioning teamwork becomes. Whilst I simultaneously investigated the content of physiotherapy in specialised palliative care, it appeared that there was an inter- as well as transdisciplinary collaboration. There was a strong sense of togetherness, and competition between professions was non-existent.
I am co-supervising doctoral students – nurses and physiotherapist, working on different projects conducted in interdisciplinary research environments consisting of researchers in caring science, medicine, occupational therapy, public health, psychology and digital design. In the ReScreen research project, we are investigating how to identify early rehabilitation needs in women with breast cancer and investigate the effects of extended support of a contact nurse, where a pro-active focus on physical activity and exercise is a key ingredient. As an extension, another project aim to investigate breast cancer rehabilitation for women who migrated to Sweden (ReMig). In the project ProPhys we are exploring physical activity and exercise for older people arranged in municipalities. It places a focus on person-centeredness, whilst aiming to promote sustainable access to physical activity and exercise for all. In the PreSens project, we are investigating whether a body-worn monitor can identify people who are at risk of falling. This information can then be used to customise fall prevention measures during preventive home visits.
My career path, consisting of a close collaboration with several professions, constantly challenges my view of health. It has thus given me knowledge about health and care from a broad perspective, and the more I learn, the more complex it appears. This complexity drives me to continue my research and reinforces my belief that teamwork is necessary for person-centered care. Together with the patients and family members, we will put together the puzzle that allows the patients to have a functional and meaningful life. Each profession contributes one or several, but not all pieces of the puzzle. Thus, to my worried colleague – do not worry, they cannot take our jobs! Other professions have knowledge that we do not have, but they are far from the experts physiotherapists are in movement behaviour and function ability. Therefore, it is my belief that getting more professions involved in rehabilitation and the important goal of encouraging more people to become physically active will only increase the need of our expertise. Instead of competing, we as physiotherapists can be completely confident in our profession. With an increased focus on person-centeredness, rehabilitation, and physical activity in the future, I am confident that the demand for physiotherapists will increase. My belief is that the best way to strengthen our profession is by collaborating with other professions. The more we collaborate, the more it will become obvious that our skills are unique and necessary for the well-being of our patients.