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The opening phase of telemedicine consultations: an analysis of interaction

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Abstract

This paper describes communication in the opening phases of real-time, video-mediated telemedicine consultations, using the method of conversation analysis, in three NHS settings in the UK. The literature on interaction analysis in face-to-face medical consultations indicates that physicians' capacity to determine topics in consultations is established in the opening phases of the encounter. This is because patients concede the communicative floor to physicians who claim it for themselves by using well-established patterns of interaction. Drawing on 10 teleconsultations, the analysis shows that, for health care professionals and patients, video-mediated telemedicine is unfamiliar terrain, where communication requires constant negotiation of skills and roles, this complexity being added to by the fact that more than one professional participates in the encounter.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 1229-1237

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

Social Science and Medicine (Volume 68, Issue 7)

Publication milestones

  • Published - 01/01/2009

Publication status

Published - 01/01/2009

ISSN

0277-9536

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/296944
  • Scopus: 62249198258

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