Becoming anonymous: how strict COVID-19 isolation protocols impacted ICU patients

Area of Science:

• Phenomenology
• Medical Sociology
• Critical Care Medicine

Background:

• The first wave of COVID-19 necessitated strict isolation protocols in Intensive Care Units (ICUs).
• Understanding the patient's lived experience during extreme medical isolation is crucial for patient-centered care.
• Previous research has not fully explored the phenomenological aspects of severe isolation in critical care settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To phenomenologically explore patients' experiences of extreme isolation in ICUs during the initial COVID-19 wave.
• To characterize the patient experience as one of "becoming anonymous."
• To analyze the sources and implications of this anonymization on embodied existence.

Main Methods:

• Phenomenological reflections based on observation studies within patient isolation rooms.
• Retrospective, in-depth phenomenological interviews with patients admitted to ICUs.
• Utilizing a theoretical framework of embodied existence on a scale between anonymous embodiment and a personal niche.

Main Results:

• Patients experienced profound anonymization due to mechanical interventions, objectification, and spatial/intercorporeal isolation.
• Surreal experiences, blending objective impressions with dream-like interpretations, contributed to the sense of anonymity.
• Anonymization led to an experience of embodiment as raw materiality, confronting patients with existential "naked existence."

Conclusions:

• Extreme isolation in ICUs during COVID-19 can lead to a significant experience of becoming anonymous.
• This anonymization profoundly impacts patients' sense of embodied self, reducing it to raw materiality.
• The findings offer insights into existential experiences in critical care and may support philosophical accounts of existence.