Testing of culture with modern medicine: Personal experience narratives of dialysis patients

The aim of this study is to reveal how the patient defines chronic failure, the process of accepting their illness, how they experience their illness in physical, mental, and social dimensions, and how the social strategies they develop in their lives change in parallel with culture. Another aim of the study was to analyze the effect of the disease experience on the feelings, thoughts, and attitudes developed by patients waiting for organ donation towards organ donation before and after the disease. In this study, how the Turkish culture, where "the fire burns where it falls", and where "those who fall off the donkey understand the situation of those who fall off the donkey", is tested with concepts such as dialysis, organ donation, and organ transplantation specific to modern medicine, is analyzed within the framework of the experience narratives of dialysis patients. The qualitative research method was used in accordance with the subject and purpose of the research. This study was conducted with face-to-face interview techniques and field observation techniques. The population of the study consists of dialysis patients receiving treatment in Bartın State Hospital Hemodialysis Unit and Private Bartın Dialysis Center. The purposive sampling method was used as a non-probability sampling technique. The source person profile is represented by 34 dialysis patients residing within the borders of Bartın, aged between 20-66, registered on the national organ donation waiting list. As a result of the research, it was learned that the social life of dialysis patients was highly restricted, and they had to withdraw from working life. The findings determined that the number of people who base their knowledge and opinions on medical sources is quite low. Especially dialysis patients with low levels of education obtain information based on the experiences of dialysis patients in their families and surroundings. The lack of information about what dialysis is in the socio-cultural environment in which dialysis patients live leads to a prejudiced approach to dialysis patients. The fact that dialysis disease is seen as "contagious" by society separates people from social life.