Abstract
This chapter explores the institutional dynamics that frame illness. The autoethnographic story presented reflects on a series of visits to Halina, a cancer patient under the care of the publicly-funded British National Health Service (NHS). The methodological, aesthetic and therapeutic advantages of storytelling notwithstanding, this chapter reflects on the experience in more specific empirical terms. The implications are twofold: (1) the social, cultural and emotional aspects of care are often more significant than the clinical care itself; and (2) hospital visitors can serve as catalysts of care, proxy carers and emotional mediators. In developing this argument, it is proposed that the NHS, and perhaps other health providers, delineate an active role for visitors in terms of what is tentatively described as ‘negotiated nursing’.
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Vine, T. (2022). Clinical Advance Through Ethnographic Storytelling: Towards an Enacted Organisational Role for the Hospital Visitor. In: Vine, T., Richards, S. (eds) Stories, Storytellers, and Storytelling. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07234-5_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07234-5_4
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