Tales from a Hospital Entrance Screener: An Autoethnography and Exploration of COVID-19, Risk, and Responsibility

Abstract

This autoethnography explores my experiences as a hospital entrance screener during the first wave of the pandemic in a hospital in Ontario, Canada. In April 2020, I was redeployed from my research role to a hospital entrance screener. Focused on my lived experiences, the purpose of this research is to provide a glimpse into what it was like to work in a hospital early in the pandemic, to understand these experiences in relation to sociocultural meanings, and to try to make sense of my experiences with COVID-19. Through reflections, I offer a critical account of my experiences working as a screener and analyze personal reflections about my thoughts, feelings, and experiences from a post-structural lens. My analysis reveals several themes: responsibilization, risk, emotional labor, policing and securitization, and the hero discourse. My experiences as a screener demonstrate the complexities of the COVID-19 society and experience.