The medical consultation through the lenses of language and social interaction theory

TY - JOUR

T1 - The medical consultation through the lenses of language and social interaction theory

AU - Cox, Antoon

AU - Li, Shuangyu

PY - 2019/2/4

Y1 - 2019/2/4

N2 - The well-structured medical communication models that are typically described in textbooks are relevant to practice, but the actual messy interactional realities of consultations are often a far cry away from them. As a result, medical trainees frequently encounter difficulties when applying communication skills acquired during training to medical practice. This paper reflects on how clinical communication research and courses can incorporate the growing need for context-bound communication skills training. This paper illustrateshow concepts from the research field of language and social interaction can facilitate the description and analysis of communication in clinical encounters, drawing on a real-life example from an increasingly common clinical scenario: a consultation in the emergency department involving a patient who does not speak the same language as the clinician. The proposed way of looking at clinical communication can enrich clinical skills training as it provides a tool to study, analyze, visualize and discuss communication from a different perspective that simultaneously accounts for international and clinical reasoning aspects ofmedical consultations.

AB - The well-structured medical communication models that are typically described in textbooks are relevant to practice, but the actual messy interactional realities of consultations are often a far cry away from them. As a result, medical trainees frequently encounter difficulties when applying communication skills acquired during training to medical practice. This paper reflects on how clinical communication research and courses can incorporate the growing need for context-bound communication skills training. This paper illustrateshow concepts from the research field of language and social interaction can facilitate the description and analysis of communication in clinical encounters, drawing on a real-life example from an increasingly common clinical scenario: a consultation in the emergency department involving a patient who does not speak the same language as the clinician. The proposed way of looking at clinical communication can enrich clinical skills training as it provides a tool to study, analyze, visualize and discuss communication from a different perspective that simultaneously accounts for international and clinical reasoning aspects ofmedical consultations.

KW - Medical communication

KW - Language and social interaction

KW - Linguistic diversity

KW - Clinical skills

KW - Immigration

KW - Diversity

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85061203576&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10459-018-09873-2

DO - 10.1007/s10459-018-09873-2

M3 - Article

SN - 1382-4996

JO - ADVANCES IN HEALTH SCIENCES EDUCATION

JF - ADVANCES IN HEALTH SCIENCES EDUCATION

ER -