How the Trivialization of the Demands of High-Tech Care in the Home is Turning Family Members Into Para-Medical Personnel

Abstract

This study analyzes the transfer of specialized professional activities from health care workers to patients and their family members in the context of the shift to ambulatory care for acute and chronic illnesses requiring hospitalization. Based on 119 semidirective interviews with patients released from hospital after early discharge and/or with the family members caring for them, and based on 26 focus groups and 9 individual interviews with health care professionals from hospitals and home care agencies in five regions of the province of Québec, this article raises the issue of the trivialization of professional care which underlies this transfer. This article also examines two stages in this trivialization: the preparation for discharge and the transfer of specialized activities. Theoretical and empirical implications include the need to better understand how health care workers support this transfer through a process of trivialization and the implications of this transfer for patients and their families.