Reimagining interdisciplinary team communication in hospice care: disrupting routinization with narrative inspiration

ABSTRACT

Nearly 70 years ago, the hospice movement relied upon narrative sensibilities to transform end-of-life care within a healthcare system dominated by biomedical logics. To ensure quality and safety, hospice practices are now guided by strict structures that tightly tether care professionals to routine and regulations. While volunteering on a hospice interdisciplinary team during this engaged ethnographic project, I witnessed individuals being inspired by and embracing narrative logics to reimagine an institutional script previously limited in its capacity to motivate creative, compassionate, holistic end-of-life care. These storied occasions, called Enrichment Moments, transformed rigid routines, enhanced identification with the hospice philosophy, and inspired collaboration that transcended regulatory requirements. This research suggests theoretical and practical implications in terms of urging assessment of metanarratives that guide healthcare organizing, developing a holistic view of narrative medicine that encompasses experiences of all involved in care contexts, and embracing the capacities of narrative logics in health organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• Narrative
• hospice
• interdisciplinary teams
• organizational communication
• engaged scholarship

Acknowledgements

This project was a part of the author's dissertation research. She would like to express gratitude to Drs Lynn M. Harter, Raymie E. McKerrow, William K. Rawlins, and Joseph A. Bianco for their guidance and support throughout the process as well as to Dr Katherine Miller and anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful feedback during the editorial process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.