Professor Yvonne Wengström: We need clinically active nurses in the academy

In June 2015 Yvonne Wengström became a Professor of Nursing at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS), with a combined employment as an academic nurse at the Clinic of Oncology, Karolinska University Hospital in Solna.

”I am proud and infinitely happy. This is my dream job”, says Yvonne Wengström.

She is one of few professors at Karolinska Institutet (KI) who also works clinically as an academic nurse. She hopes that her combined employment may inspire clinical nurses to also seek an academic carrier. That, according to Yvonne, is important for the development of both clinic and academic.

”These type of employments will help transfer research results to the clinics, and at the same time revel the real needs within health care, so that we can conduct research on relevant questions. I would not be able to conduct my own research if I was not working clinically”.

Yvonne herself would never be willing to leave the clinic for a mere academic career. She studied at KI to become an oncology nurse, and since 1989 she has worked within the profession.

”Immediately, I realized how much I appreciate working with these patients. There is so much we can do to make their lives and treatments easier.”

This is also the focus of professor Wengströms research. Mainly, she examines the effect of different interventions with the goal of making life easier during treatments for patients with breast cancer. For example, she has developed physical activity training programs and mobile applications for participatory care.

”We strive to ensure that patients take an active part in their own treatment. In the mobile application they can report on an everyday basis about their health condition and if they notice any side effects of the treatment”, says Yvonne Wengström.