Over the last 3½ years, I have initiated, participated in, and been project manager of research and development of nursing for orthopedic patients, as well as research in management and organization of the hospital system. My focus has particularly been on how health and disease processes as well as individual sense making and joint ventures are formed through social interactions within a physical and institutional framework.

The main areas of my research include: communication, transitions, patient involvement, sleep, pain, hospitalization, sick leave, learning in practice and professional community.

My current Ph.D. work is an ethnographic study of the role of sleep for older people (aged 65 and above) after orthopedic surgery. The purpose of this study is to examine the sleep habits in the context of their hospital and home communities and the importance people attach to sleep in their rehabilitation process. I direct my attention to the way people act and interpret their interaction with others, the practical conditions in the institution and everyday life and the subjective and cultural formation of experience and meaning.