The Dynamic Consultation

A discourse analytical study of doctor–patient communication

Author

Marisa Cordella | Monash University, Australia

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027253712 (Eur) | EUR 99.00

ISBN 9781588115584 (USA) | USD 149.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027295187 | EUR 99.00 | USD 149.00

This book introduces a unique model of medical discourse that identifies the forms of talk – voices – that doctors and patients use during the consultation, and studies the dynamic interaction as it unfolds particularly in follow-up visits. Natural recordings, semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and ethnographic observations provide the data for the research, which was carried out in an Outpatient Clinic in Santiago, Chile. Using an interactional sociolinguistic approach, analysis of the data identifies doctor–patient communication as a micro-performance of broader socio-cultural realities, in which social status, power, knowledge and personal beliefs and values all find expression in the consultative setting. Importantly, while both doctor and patient voices are shown to contribute to an essentially asymmetrical exchange, the study also identifies the holistic and empathic Fellow Human voice, which places doctors and patients on a more equal footing. In connection with this voice, the Spanish concept of simpatía is also discussed.

While the model in this study was developed within a specific socio-cultural framework, it is hoped that it will be adapted and modified more widely and contribute to a better understanding between doctors and their patients.

[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 128] 2004. xvi, 254 pp.

Publishing status: Available

https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.128

Table of Contents

Preface | pp. xi–xiv

Acknowledgments | pp. xv–xvi

1. Introduction | pp. 1–3

2. Discourse, society and doctor-patient communication | pp. 5–40

3. Doctor-patient communication: An empirical study | pp. 41–62

4. The Doctor voice | pp. 63–86

5. The Educator voice | pp. 87–119

6. The Fellow Human voice | pp. 121–148

7. Patients' voice | pp. 149–183

8. Patterns of footing | pp. 185–188

9. The Dynamic Consultation | pp. 189–216

10. Concluding remarks | pp. 217–219

Appendices | pp. 235–247

Index | pp. 249–252

“This book is useful reading for anyone investigating the interaction between doctors' and patients' talk in a medical context, and has much to offer to anyone interested in the way communication between doctor and patient develops during medical consultations in outpatient clinics.”

Samad Sajjadi, in Discourse Studies 8 (5)

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