How quarantine of covid-19 changed dignity in a nursing hospital

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis poses a considerable challenge to terminally ill patients. In this paper the use of qualitative research methods and ethnography compares the dignity of everyday life in the nursing hospital and how dignity is achieved before COVID-19 quarantine and during it. The focus is on the main palliative medicine principles – community and support from relatives. Because of quarantine patients could no longer gather and could not communicate with their relatives. This research shows that because of quarantine patients lost their ability to die with dignity. The paper’s methodological basis consists of anthropological and social work research methods such as participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and informal interviews. The main material is from the 2018 Master’s thesis – “Dignity in a nursing hospital. Approaches and experiences of medical staff and patients”. It is updated with five semi-structural interviews from patients and four semi-structural interviews with the medical staff of the hospital conducted in June 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic crisis poses a considerable challenge to terminally ill patients. In this paper the use of qualitative research methods and ethnography compares the dignity of everyday life in the nursing hospital and how dignity is achieved before COVID-19 quarantine and during it. The focus is on the main palliative medicine principles – community and support from relatives. Because of quarantine patients could no longer gather and could not communicate with their relatives. This research shows that because of quarantine patients lost their ability to die with dignity. The paper’s methodological basis consists of anthropological and social work research methods such as participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and informal interviews. The main material is from the 2018 Master’s thesis – “Dignity in a nursing hospital. [...]