The goal for me as a clinician and a researcher is to ensure that all patients receive care that best fits them and their lives - care that makes sense in their situation. In the consultation room the patient’s story is powerful and throughout my career this idea has only been reinforced. Most of my research activities are related to questions on the best way to integrate the patient’s perspective into healthcare by focusing on concepts such as patient-centredness of care, shared decision-making (SDM), patient-reported outcomes and the patient’s quality of life.
As a PhD-student I focused on patient-centredness of care. We found that this concept could be best measured through assessing patients’ experiences with care. It appeared to be related to other patient-reported outcome measures (quality of life, emotional distress). Online health communities contribute to the improvement of patient-centredness and patient empowerment. In more recent years I have conducted interview-, focus group and vignette studies to assess patients’ experiences with different care aspects:e.g. women’s views on sentinel lymph node mapping in endometrial cancer, and preferences regarding follow-up-care after cancer treatment.
These patient narratives provide an important source for future studies and opportunities to improve care.

personalized care; gynaecological cancer; shared decision-making; quality of life; patient-centredness of care