Rektor Lars Mathisen ønsket hjertelig velkommen til både tiltredelsesforelesning og til Borglin som nå tiltrer en 100 % stilling ved Lovisenberg diakonale høgskole.

Instituttleder Edith R. Gjevjon introduserte videre Borglin og sier at hun har sett frem til denne dagen lenge.

- Å få professor Borglin til LDH er jeg veldig stolt av. Gunilla har en lang karriere som forsker. Hennes lange erfaring fra helsetjenesten har hatt stor betydning for forskning og utvikling av sykepleiefaget og sykepleievitenskap.

Career and field of interest

At the age of 34-35 Borglin asked herself “Am I happy with who I am?”. She had a lifelong dream to either be a solicitor or a nurse. She needed to make a decision, and after 12 months she decided that she wanted to be a nurse. After finishing her bachelor’s degree in 1998, she started her master’s degree. In 1999 Borglin yet again had to make a decision. Did she want to start a PhD? The answer was yes, and she finished her PhD in 2005.

After a while, she considered herself no longer competent as a clinical nurse and she felt that she knew nothing about teaching, and the only thing she knew was research work.

What shaped you and your career?

- Being actively engaged in European Academy of Nursing Science Ph.D. education and training since 1999 is one of the more vita influences in my research career. This have given me the courage to do post-doctoral training abroad (Manchester and York University) supported me to build an extensive European research network and to work at universities outside my birthplace Malmö, Sweden.

Tell us about your areas of interest, maybe you have multiple?

- Since defending my thesis 2005 I have constantly strived to, besides focusing on my topic of research - older people, quality of life, health complaints - build a solid experience and knowledgebase in research designs. I have been privileged to simultaneously engage in the current methodological development in nursing science particularly mixed methods and the implementation of sound research findings in clinical practice. For the last two years my focus has been on nursing for older people in relation to the essentials of care and the challenge of rationed, missed, or failed care.

- One of the important things we can do as researchers is to actively be participating in creating knowledge loops via our research.

A strong research platform

What are your plans and visions for the future? What are you going to focus on?

- My present research efforts are concentrating on developing a strong research platform at LDH in accordance with the MRC’s Research Framework for Complex Interventions that will attract funding for new research projects and thus for doctoral as well as post-doctoral positions. At present the platform concentrate on: i) frail older people in ordinary living receiving home care, their physical and mental health needs, (i.e., fundamentals of care), nursing care targeting such needs and the continuity as well as the quality of such care ii) the development of safe nurse led care pathways and the implementation of interprofessional models of nursing care. However, the foundation of the research platform is organized so that anyone who is interested can connect their research projects on to it, regardless of context, population, or research topic. The platforms unifier is research designed against waste of research and the umbrella concepts continuity- and quality of care. As a professor at Lovisenberg I see my main role as an active partner in the knowledge development of research into nursing and as a colleague my main role should be to support colleagues and students to reach their full potential either as a teacher, nurse, or a researcher.

The research platform Continuity for Quality of Care and Health is led by Borglin.