- E-mailStefan.Hjorleifsson@uib.no
- Phone+47 55 58 60 90+4745467033
- Visitor AddressInstitutt for global helse og samfunnsmedisinBergen
- Postal AddressPostboks 78045020 Bergen
Medical overuse (overinvestigating, overdiagnosis and overtreatment), clinical communication, disease at the intersection of of biology, culture and (loss of) meaning, medically unexplained symptoms (MUS), depression care in general practice.
Communication and consultation skills, psychiatry in general practice, multimorbidity in general practice, medical overuse.
Selected publications related to current research
Utvalgte publikasjoner relaterte til pågående forskningsprosjekter
Hjörleifsson S, Meland E. 4 Clinical skills for avoiding overdiagnosis. BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine 2023;28:A2.
Hjörleifsson S, Getz LO, The sustainability of universal health care, Tidsskr Nor Legeforen 2023 doi: 10.4045/tidsskr.23.0025.
Jossang IH, Aamland Aa & Hjörleifsson S. Discovering strengths in patients with medically unexplained symptoms – a focus group study with general practitioners, Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, 40:3, 405-413, DOI: 10.1080/02813432.2022.2139345.
Breivold J, Rø KI & Hjörleifsson S. Conditions for gatekeeping when GPs consider patient requests unreasonable: a focus group study, Family Practice 2021, DOI: 10.1093/fampra/cmab072
Ruths, S, Haukenes, I, Hetlevik, Ø, Smith-Sivertsen T, Hjörleifsson S, Hansen AB, Riiser S, Meling HM, Baste V, Trends in treatment for patients with depression in general practice in Norway, 2009–2015: nationwide registry-based cohort study (The Norwegian GP-DEP Study). BMC Health Serv Res 21, 697 (2021). DOI: 10.1186/s12913-021- 06712-w.
Lea K, Swinglehurst D & Hjörleifsson S, Digital Consumer Health: Negotiating Multiple Voices in the Clinical Consultation, Professions and Professionalism 2021, 11(2), DOI: 10.7577.
Whelan B, Hjörleifsson S. & Schei E. Shame in medical clerkship: “You just feel like dirt under someone’s shoe”. Perspect Med Educ, 2021, DOI: 10.1007/s40037-021-00665-w
Hetlevik Ø, Garre-Fivelsdal G, Bjorvatn B, Hjörleifsson S & Ruths S, Patient-reported depression treatment and future treatment preferences: an observational study in general practice, Family Practice, 2019, 1–7, doi:10.1093/fampra/cmz026
Swinglehurst, D, Hjörleifsson S. The Everyday Ethics of Burdensome Polypharmacy, Public Policy & Aging Report, 2018, Vol. 28, No. 4, 113–115
- (2023). Stakeholder views on work participation for workers with depression and intersectoral collaboration in depression care: a focus group study with a salutogenic perspective. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care. 204-213.
- (2023). Besinnelse for bærekraft. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening.
- (2022). Patient experiences with depression care in general practice: a qualitative questionnaire study. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care. 253-260.
- (2022). Discovering strengths in patients with medically unexplained symptoms–a focus group study with general practitioners. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care. 405-413.
- (2022). Conditions for gatekeeping when GPs consider patient requests unreasonable: a focus group study. Family Practice. 125-129.
- (2021). Trends in treatment for patients with depression in general practice in Norway, 2009–2015: nationwide registry-based cohort study (The Norwegian GP-DEP Study). BMC Health Services Research.
- (2021). Shame in medical clerkship: “You just feel like dirt under someone’s shoe”. Perspectives on Medical Education. 265-271.
- (2021). Komplekse problemstillinger – allmennlegens ekspertområde. Michael. 17-39.
- (2021). Digital Consumer Health: Negotiating Multiple Voices in the Clinical Consultation. Professions and Professionalism.
- (2019). The when and how of the gynaecological examination: a survey among Norwegian general practitioners. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care. 264-270.
- (2019). Patient-reported depression treatment and future treatment preferences: an observational study in general practice. Family Practice. 771-777.
- (2019). Dilemmas of medical overuse in general practice?A focus group study. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care. 135-140.
- (2018). Trustingly bewildered. How first-year medical students make sense of their learning experience in a traditional, preclinical curriculum. Medical Education Online. 1-9.
- (2017). General practitioners' strategies in consultations with immigrants in Norway - practice-based shared reflections among participants in focus groups. Family Practice. 216-221.
- (2015). Residents’ perceptions of their own sadness - a qualitative study in Norwegian nursing homes. BMC Geriatrics. 1-7.
- (2014). Prevalence of depression among recently admitted long-term care patients in Norwegian nursing homes: Associations with diagnostic workup and use of antidepressants. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders. 154-162.
- (2014). Immigrant and native regular general practitioners in Norway. A comparative registry-based observational study. European Journal of General Practice. 93-99.
- (2013). Impact of divorce and loss of parental contact on health complaints among adolescents. Journal of Public Health (Berlin). 278-285.
- (2011). Treatment decisions on antidepressants in nursing homes: A qualitative study. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care. 252-256.
- (2011). Immigrant general practitioners in Norway: A special resource? A qualitative study. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. 239-244.
- (2008). Decoding the genetics debate: hype and hope in Icelandic news media in 2000 and 2004. New genetics and society (Print). 377-394.
- (2007). Geneticization and bioethics: advancing debate and research. Medicine, Health care and Philosophy. 417-431.
- (2006). Scientific rationality, uncertainty and the governance of human genetics: an interview study with researchers at deCODE genetics. European Journal of Human Genetics.
- (2005). Health as a genetic planning project: Enthusiasm and second thoughts among biomedical researchers and their research subjects. Genomics, Society and Policy. 52-65.
- (2000). Legen - den enøyde samaritan? Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening. 1207-1209.
- (2017). Key Writings in General Practice: The Core of a Discipline and Formation of its Practitioners.
- (2023). Bærekraft på legekontoret - et norsk perspektiv.
- (2022). The role of general practice in care for young adults with depression who fall out of education and employment.
- (2022). Sustainable Healthcare starting in your GP's office- ideas for a complex intervention.
- (2022). Patient experiences with depression care in general practice.
- (2022). Avancerad hvardagsmedicin - Kompleksitetsteori för almenläkare.
- (2021). Promoting sustainable work participation for workers with depression through improved collaboration in depression care: a focus group study.
- (2019). Time trends in GPs’ provision of depression care during 2008-2016.
- (2017). The non-linear relationship between evidence and practice – with homebirth as an emotionally charged case.
- (2017). Self-reported depression in patients visiting their general practitioner.
- (2017). Overdiagnosis in general practice: How can it be limited?
- (2017). General practitioners’ gender and the gynecological examination - A survey among GPs in Western Norway.
- (2015). Trustingly bewildered. First-year medical students’ reflections on the ideals of medicine and the realities of medical school.
- (2015). Pelvic examination in general practice. A survey from Western Norway.
- (2014). Sadness as perceived by nursing home patients.
- (2013). Depression in newly admitted patients.
- (2012). Depresjon hos nyinnlagte sykehjemspasienter.
- (2011). Treatment decisions with regard to antidepressants.
- (2010). Many pills, less of time – a qualitative study about treatment decisions regarding depression in nursing homes.
- (2005). Biobanks as National Constructs - Iceland and Norway.
- (2003). Sjúkdómsvæðing - Inngangur.
- (2002). When more is worse - Medical expansion as a threat to health.
- (2002). Siðfræði og heilbrigðisþjónusta [Etikk og helsetjenester].
- (2002). How genetics alters the course of history.
- (2002). Gode hensikter, utilsiktede følger?
- (2002). Gode hensikter, utilsiktede følger?
- (2002). Forskning og samfunn, om utilsiktede følger av medisinsk forskning.
- (2002). Erfðafræði og samfélag [Genetikk og samfunn].
- (2020). Kan vi gjøre klokere valg? Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening.
- (2019). Fastlegegarantien. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening.
- (2018). Svangerskapsomsorgen må være kunnskapsbasert. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening. 799-799.
- (2017). God praksis. Om medisin og etikk. Fagbokforlaget.
- (2017). God praksis – om medisin og etikk. Fagbokforlaget.
- (2002). Risikokunnskap - ein helserisiko. UiB-magasinet : nytt fra Universitetet i Bergen.
- (2023). Fem år med Gjør kloke valg – hjelper det? Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening.
- (2022). Har fastlegeordningen egentlig noen fremtid? Dagens medisin.
- (2016). Overdiagnostikk – norske allmennleger viser vei :. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening. 1903-1905.
- (2020). 'Bad old habits' … and what really matters. British Journal of General Practice. 485-486.
- (2018). Mismanagement in General Practice. 30 pages.
- (2011). Hvert er framlag siðfræðinnar til heilbrigðis og læknavísinda? 23 pages.
- (2011). Challenging population screening. 14 pages.
- (2023). Sustainable healthcare starting at the GP office: a national innovation to curb medical overuse. BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine. A35.
- (2019). Working with complexity is a core generalist competence – Obesity as a case. Symposium at the 21st Nordic Congress of general Practice, Aalborg 17-20 June 2019. 21st Nordic Congress of General Practice 17-20 June 2019, Aalborg, Denmark.
- (2019). From Theory to practice: Complexity science in Daily Practice. Workshop, Nordic Congress of General Practice, Aalborg 17-20 June 2019. Abstracts Nordic Congress of General Practice 2019.
- (2018). Good doctoring: Core writings as an antidote to „too much medicine . BMJ Evidence Based Medicine. A3.
- (2021). General Practice and the marginalization of young adults with depression who fall out of education and employment: A case study .
- (2019). Patient-reported treatment preferences in case of future depression .
- (2016). Sadness as perceived by nursing home patients.
- (2015). Sadness as perceived by nursing home patients.
- (2013). Promoting health in Healthy Living Centers – does it work, how does it work, and why? A study protocol.
- (2003). How genetics changes the course of history.
- (2022). Komplekse problemstillinger 3. Et Klinisk eksempel. Månedsskrift for almen praksis. 22-27.
- (2022). Komplekse problemstillinger 2. Centrale egenskaber ved komplekse systemer. Månedsskrift for almen praksis. 448-455.
- (2022). Komplekse problemstillinger 1. Den praktiserende læges særlige kompetence. Månedsskrift for almen praksis. 22-26.
- (2016). The person in a state of sickness: the doctor-patient relationship reconsidered. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. 209-218.
- (2022). Bruk av tolk blant fastleger på Vestlandet. Utposten.
More information in national current research information system (CRIStin)
Chair of Choosing Wisely Norway - an interprofessional initiative under the auspices of The Norwegian Medical Associatioon. Choosing Wisely is a Canada-led international movement to curb medical overuse and has been a success in Norway since it's inception in 2018. An overview in of the achievements during the first five years can be found here (Norwegian) and in this podcast (English). A student programme within Choosing Wisely Norway has recruited two cohorts of students since 2022, and a new cohort will be recruited during spring 2024. During the first five years, we have contributed to increasing the awareness of medical overuse among healthcare professionals, decisionmakers and the public. The focus of Choosing Wisely Norway is increasingly being directed towards implementation projects, including the national project Sustainability in general practice (separate tab).
Sustainability in general practice is an initiative by associate professor Stefán Hjörleifsson at the University of Bergen and professor Linn Okkenhaug Getz at the Norwegian University of Technology and Science. Since February 2023, the project has been conducted as a joint venture with the Norwegian College of General Practice and the project webpage (in Norwegian only) is located within the Norwegian Medical Association. The Choosing Wisely initiative (separate tab) and the acknowledgment that our national health service is on the brink of collapse due to non-sustainable resource use form the point of departure of Sustainabilty in General Practice. the Norwegian Medical Association has supported the project with 1.000.000 NOK through the Fund for quality improvement and patient safety both in 2023 and 2024.