The Centre for Pandemics and One-health Research (P1H) aims to conduct a series of interviews, “P1H Coffee Break”, with researchers to raise understanding and awareness regarding the field of pandemics and One-health.
What motivated you to research this topic?
My research is about the use of antibiotics in primary care. My main motivation is that I am concerned that the health system in some ways and in some instances does more harm than good. That was one of my interests while studying medicine. I tried to find out what kind of areas I could do my research in, to avoid that the health system makes people more worried and more unhealthy.
Then, there came an opportunity to research the use of antibiotics in primary care, and I grabbed that opportunity, and I have been there ever since. When I came into this area of research, it was filled with many exciting and interesting areas. Overall, my main focus is that the health care system should do good and not bad.
How do you do this with your work?
I am a general practitioner one day a week, and then the rest of the week, I am head of The Antibiotic Center for Primary Care. I also have a part-time position as an associate professor where I supervise PhD students. Additionally, I am head of some larger projects where we mainly research how to use less antibiotics, use antibiotics more correctly, and use it more responsibly in primary care.
The aim of the research I do is to use antibiotics as correctly as possible. To give the correct antibiotic to a patient if they need it. If they do not need them, they should not be given antibiotics. We do clinical studies to find out what is the best antibiotics for the patient and to see if other options than antibiotics could be just as safe and effective. Then we do research, what we call educational interventions: How is it possible for General practitioners to use antibiotics more correctly? To research this, we do qualitative studies, surveys and registry studies. The overall aim is to find out how antibiotics can be used responsibly in primary care.
Why is this topic important?
It is very important to use antibiotics responsibly because of the risk of developing antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Antimicrobial resistance is a big problem and is increasing worldwide. In Norway, we use antibiotics quite responsibly. We are among the best countries in Europe, but we are not the best. In order to avoid more resistance in Norway, it is important that we use antibiotics responsibly, also in primary care. Primary care is the sector where we use about 90% of all antibiotics in Norway. If we want to use antibiotics more responsibly, then primary care is the main area to focus on.
The topic is important for me because I think it is very interesting and it aligns well with my aim to do research, to find out how the healthcare system can do more good than harm.
Are we at a big risk of meeting antibiotic resistance?
The biggest problems with antimicrobial systems are not found in Norway. It is a bigger problem in other parts of the world. We are in a very lucky position in Norway. The health system is not going to drown in AMR problems within the next 10 years. Still, we see the levels of AMR-cases are increasing. We have to do our best to avoid or postpone increasing levels of AMR in Norway.
How are studies on pandemics or One-health related to your field of research?
The One Health theme involves human health, the environment, and animal health. It is important to understand that all these areas are combined and affect each other. In Norway, when it comes to the use of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance, it is mostly used in human health. My concern is mostly the human health area within the One-Health context. Internationally, it is much more complex, and the One-Health perspective is very important.
How would you describe a research in three words?
One word might be interdisciplinary or diverse because we do a lot of different studies, both registered studies and qualitative studies. So, maybe diverse or multi-method. The next word I would of course say is important. And for me it is fun.
Thank you to Sigurd for participating in this interview. Check out our Instagram at @pandemicscentre.uio to see snippets of the interview.