The Care of Deeply Significant Insignificant Things: An Ethnographic Study of Palliative Care in Malta

In Malta, palliative care is often seen by nurses, policymakers and others as care of doing nothing. In my study, I demonstrate how nurses working in a palliative care unit attend to what, in the Maltese language, are called ċuċati: seemingly trivial acts that, even within palliative care, are often not recognized as legitimate forms of care, yet have a profound effect on patients’ well-being. In this article, I highlight a paradoxical relationship between the ċuċati and formal recognition. Formal recognition, while providing a means to legitimization, also risks depersonalizing the ċuċati, potentially undermining nurses’ intent to improve patients’ well-being.