Our research focuses on improving care during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period, with a particular emphasis on respectful and person-centred care.
Our research focuses on improving maternity care, with a particular emphasis on respectful and person-centred care. Our projects include research related to midwifery education, as well as implementation research examining how midwifery innovations and interventions can be effectively introduced and sustained in maternity care. The research is conducted nationally and through collaborations with international partners.
A care process to strengthen involvement, participation, teamwork, and patient safety
TeamFödsel is a care process in which midwives, assistant nurses, and physicians conduct structured huddles in the birthing room together with the woman giving birth and her partner or support person. Decisions are made collaboratively and documented on a shared planning board in the room. The process, originally known as TeamBirth, was developed by Ariadne Labs in collaboration with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. TeamFödsel is the Swedish adaptation of TeamBirth, tailored to the Swedish maternity care context.
The aim of TeamFödsel is to strengthen communication and participation during childbirth and thereby contribute to more person-centred and respectful care, enhanced teamwork, and improved patient safety.
The project is funded by the Swedish Research Council, Region Stockholm, the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE), the Swedish Patient Insurance (LÖF), and the Swedish Infant Foundation (Spädbarnsfonden).
TeamFödsel was adapted to the Swedish context through a pilot project at Karolinska University Hospital in Solna and Huddinge during 2021–2022. Malin Edqvist first learned about TeamBirth at a European conference in 2021. Following the conference, contact was established with Ariadne Labs, and a formal research collaboration was initiated in 2022.
The teams worked actively to gather and respond to feedback from women giving birth and their partners. The section of the board displaying labour progress was considered important to highlight and was therefore moved to the top of the board. It was also important to emphasise that although the care process is based on team collaboration to support involvement, participation, shared decision-making, and patient safety, the woman giving birth and her partner remain at the centre of care. To reflect this, they were allocated a dedicated central section on the board.
The adaptation and implementation process was iterative, with small-scale testing and refinements based on feedback from women, partners, and staff. The final version was completed in spring 2022.
At Karolinska University Hospital Solna, the care process is used throughout the continuum of care, from the antenatal ward to postnatal care.
Olof Stephansson - Karolinska Institutet
Karin Ängeby - Karlstads university
Cecilia Häggsgård - Lunds university
Amber Weiseth - Ariadne Labs, Harvard University T.H Chan School of Public Health
Vanessa Leutenegger - Zhaw Zurich University of Applied Sciences
Elena Bräne - Pregnancy and delivery unit, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna
Marianne Nilsson - Region Halland, förlossningsavdelningen Halmstad Hospital
Article: BMC HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH. 2026;26(1):307
Ready for change? The effect of profession and organization on patient safety culture and organizational readiness for change - a cross-sectional study
Ivert A; Freyland S; Stephansson O; Viirman F; Edqvist M
