Siste publikasjoner ved Sosialantropologisk institutt

Hadders, Hans. Relatives’ presence in connection with cardio pulmonary resuscitation and sudden death at the intensive care unit . Nursing Inquiry 2007;14(3):224-232

DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-1800.2007.00371.x

Within Norwegian intensive care units it is common to also focus on the needs of the next of kin of patients undergoing end-of-life care. Offering emotional and practical support to relatives is regarded as assisting them in the initial stages of their grief process. It has also become usual to encourage relatives to be present at the time of death of close relatives. How can dignified end-of-life care coexist with the sometimes turbulent and dramatic character of intensive care in the highly technological environment of Intensive Care Units? This paper affords a case-study based on an incident which took place at the intensive care unit (ICU) of Trondheim University Hospital, Norway, in which the relatives of a newly deceased patient voiced unusually strong dissatisfaction with the way they where excluded in connection with cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The next of kin’s criticism highlights an important paradox as well as a degree of inconsistency in connection with life saving and end-of-life care at the ICU. I argue that an investigation of the multiple identities (Timmermans, 1999, 1996) within medical practice can illuminate the potential for clashes between life saving and end-of-life care, as described and analysed in this presentation.

Høyem, Harald; Erring, Bjørn Bauck. Urban agriculture - en fremtidsvisjon?. Byggekunst 2007;02:22-27

Med utgangspunkt i feltstudier i Kampala, Uganda, settes urban agriculture (bylandbruk) inn i en byplanmessig sammenheng, der det blir fokusert på kulturell identitet, dagens byutvikling, overlevelse for lavinntekts byboere.

Hadders, Hans. Dealing with the dead patient at the intensive care unit. Mortality 2007;12(3):207-222

DOI: 10.1080/13576270701430726

The way of dealing with the dead patient at the intensive care unit (ICU) seems to be intimately tied to social identity and personal integrity. The safeguarding of the integrity of the human body is the baseline for the nurses’ post-mortem care at any time. Throughout post-mortem care nurses oscillate between poles of proximity and distance to the dead patient, experienced alternately as a sentient person or an inanimate body. On the one hand washing and caring for the dead patient, preparing the body for the viewing by relatives, nurses often maintain the personhood of the patient. On the other hand technical apparatus and unpleasant changes in the physical appearance of the dead body may result in feelings of distance and aversion. In this paper I disentangle the care of the dead person from the reverence for the human remains. I show how positions of proximity and distance are key resources with which nurses manage their exposure to death in their dealings with the dead. Finally I argue that the personal integrity safeguarded during post-mortem care is tied to the integrity of the dead patient as well as to the integrity of the nurses themselves.