International Keynote

Prof. Dr. Steinar Hunskaar

Emeritus Full Professor, Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bergen, and Senior Researcher, National Centre for Emergency Primary Health Care, NORCE Research, Bergen, Norway
 

Steinar Hunskaar is emeritus full Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Bergen, with academic work, clinical practice, teaching, and research since 1984. He has also served as Dean of the Research curriculum, School of Medicine, and Vice Dean of Education (2017-2021). He was trained in neurophysiology and later in internal medicine and general practice. His doctoral thesis dealt with pain mechanisms in the spinal cord. 

Prof. Hunskaar’s main research field is epidemiology of urinary incontinence in women, and he has been principal investigator for several large epidemiological projects. Hunskaar has published more than 400 scientific papers, including in the most distinguished journals like New England Journal of Medicine and BMJ. He was a member of the Cochrane review group for incontinence from the start. He was the founder of the National Centre for Emergency Primary Health Care and was its research director 2005-2017. He has published more than 100 publications in several aspects of general practice, from clinical studies to emergency care and more ideological papers. He has been the main supervisor for more than 30 Ph.D. candidates. In recent years he has published a series of registry-based studies on continuity of care. Prof. Hunskaar has also edited several books, his most famous work is the Norwegian textbook of general practice, a well-known work with editions all over Scandinavia and Estonia. The 4th edition was published in 2023. He has also received several national and international awards for teaching and research activities. Dr. Hunskaar is an approved specialist in general practice in Norway and has been a part time GP in his local community his whole professional life.

How to balance direct access and continuity of care

General practice is built on two essential principles: easy access to care and continuity of care. Good access to a personal doctor reduces delays, supports early treatment, and builds trust that care is available, and is associated with high patient satisfaction. Continuity of care is linked to better health outcomes, including lower mortality, fewer hospital admissions, lower costs, and greater patient satisfaction. The two concepts often pull in different directions, often driven by public and political demand for easy access at the cost of lower continuity. Improving access has weakened personal continuity in many countries the recent years. There is an international challenge to balance these two values in the best way. We need to develop effective solutions for care that also preserve continuity and upheld the concept of the personal doctor.