A general theory of consciousness III the human catastrophe.

It is generally assumed that verbal communication can articulate concepts like 'fact' and 'truth' accurately. However, language is fundamentally inaccurate and ambiguous and it is not possible to express exact propositions accurately in an ambiguous medium. Whether truth exists or not, language cannot express it in any exact way. A major problem for verbal communication is that words are fundamentally differently interpreted by the sender and the receiver. In addition, intrapersonal verbal communication - the voice in our head - is a useless extension to the thought process and results in misunderstanding our own thoughts. The evolvement of language has had a profound impact on human life. Most consequential has been that it allowed people to question the old human rules of behavior - the pre-language way of living. As language could not accurately express the old rules, they lost their authority and disappeared. A long period without any rules of how to live together must have followed, probably accompanied by complete chaos. Later, new rules were devised in language, but the new rules were also questioned and had to be enforced by punishment. Language changed the peaceful human way of living under the old rules into violent and aggressive forms of living under punitive control. Religion then tried to incorporate the old rules into the harsh verbal world. The rules were expressed in language through parables: imaginary beings - the gods - who possessed the power of the old rules, but who could be related to through their human appearance and behavior.

Beyond words: analyzing non-verbal communication techniques in a medical communication skills course via synchronous online platform.

Background: Effective doctor-patient relationships hinge on robust communication skills, with non-verbal communication techniques (NVC) often overlooked, particularly in online synchronous interactions. This study delves into the exploration of NVC types during online feedback sessions for communication skill activities in a medical education module. Methods: A cohort of 100 first-year medical students and 10 lecturers at the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), engaged in communication skills activities via Microsoft Teams. Sessions were recorded, and lecturer NVC, encompassing body position, facial expressions, voice intonation, body movements, eye contact, and paralinguistics, were meticulously observed. Following these sessions, students provided reflective writings highlighting their perceptions of the feedback, specifically focusing on observed NVC. Results: The study identified consistent non-verbal communication patterns during feedback sessions. Lecturers predominantly leaned forward and toward the camera, maintained direct eye contact, and exhibited dynamic voice intonation. They frequently engaged in tactile gestures and paused to formulate thoughts, often accompanied by filler sounds like "um" and "okay." This consistency suggests proficient use of NVC in providing synchronous online feedback. Less observed NVC included body touching and certain paralinguistic cues like long sighs. Initial student apprehension, rooted in feelings of poor performance during activities, transformed positively upon observing the lecturer's facial expressions and cheerful intonation. This transformation fostered an open reception of feedback, motivating students to address communication skill deficiencies. Additionally, students expressed a preference for comfortable learning environments to alleviate uncertainties during feedback reception. Potential contrivances in non-verbal communication (NVC) due to lecturer awareness of being recorded, a small sample size of 10 lecturers limiting generalizability, a focus solely on preclinical lecturers, and the need for future research to address these constraints and explore diverse educational contexts. Conclusion: Medical schools globally should prioritize integrating NVC training into their curricula to equip students with essential communication skills for diverse healthcare settings. The study's findings serve as a valuable reference for lecturers, emphasizing the importance of employing effective NVC during online feedback sessions. This is crucial as NVC, though occurring online synchronously, remains pivotal in conveying nuanced information. Additionally, educators require ongoing professional development to enhance proficiency in utilizing NVC techniques in virtual learning environments. Potential research directions stemming from the study's findings include longitudinal investigations into the evolution of NVC patterns, comparative analyses across disciplines, cross-cultural examinations, interventions to improve NVC skills, exploration of technology's role in NVC enhancement, qualitative studies on student perceptions, and interdisciplinary collaborations to deepen understanding of NVC in virtual learning environments.

Exploring the role of communication in effective nurse leadership and patient care.

Nurses have to be aware of their personal responsibility to demonstrate effective leadership and thereby contribute to safe and effective patient care. One of the primary skills that nurses can use to become effective leaders is communication. This article explores how communication is a vital tool in enabling nurse leaders to motivate their team members and advocate for patients. The author details some of the essential communication skills that nurses require if they are to promote person-centred care and explores the often-neglected areas of non-verbal and written communication. By possessing a full range of communication skills, nurses can empower themselves to lead clinical teams and advocate for patients.

Brain activity supporting alternating speech for semantic words: simultaneous magnetoencephalographic recording.

Communication, especially conversation, is essential for human social life. Many previous studies have examined the neuroscientific underpinnings of conversation, i.e. language comprehension and speech production. However, conversation inherently involves two or more people, and unless two people actually interact with one another, the nature of the conversation cannot be truly revealed. Therefore, in this study, we used two magnetoencephalographs that were connected together, and simultaneously recorded brain activity while two people took turns speaking in a word association/alphabet completion task. We compared the amplitude modulation of the alpha- and beta-band rhythms within each of the 62 brain regions under semantic (word association; less predictable) and non-semantic (alphabet completion; more predictable) conditions. We found that the amplitudes of the rhythms were significantly different between conditions in a wide range of brain regions. Additionally, significant differences were observed in nearly the same group of brain regions after versus before each utterance, indicating that a wide range of brain areas is involved in predicting a conversation partner's next utterance. This result supports the idea that mentalizing, e.g. predicting another person's speech, plays an important role in conversation, and suggests that the neural network implicated in mentalizing extends over a wide range of brain regions.

Patterns of Verbal and Nonverbal Communication During Sex.

Sexual communication functions as an important relational process expediating satisfying sexual experiences (Sprecher & Hendrick, 2004). Much of the existing literature on sexual communication concerning sexual pleasure biases verbal communication (Babin, 2012). This study adds to the existing research regarding patterns of communication surrounding sex and during sex through qualitative analysis. Further, this inquiry focused on participants' full histories, rather than their tendencies within any current relationship. We analyzed 78 qualitative interview transcripts from participants between the ages of 18 and 69. Participants reported a reluctance to communicate anything but pleasure, discomfort, or dislike during sex to avoid discouraging their partners. Though participants reported a perception that communicating pleasure served as encouragement and affirmation to their partners, most preferred to communicate pleasure nonverbally. Some participants reported a tendency to communicate pain or dislike verbally. Some preferred communication about sexual topics only before or after sexual activities. Participants shared that a high level of comfort with their partner increased sexual communication. How sexual partners communicate sex not only affects pleasure but can only affect intimacy between partners and health. This adds to the scant literature on nonverbal communication during sex and some people's preference for that style (Blunt-Vinti et al., 2019).

Embodying performance excellence in medicine: Can The Six Viewpoints help?

Performance excellence in healthcare relies on skilled situational awareness, but there is no comprehensive framework articulating what within a situation requires awareness. Envisioning medicine as a performing artform, we introduce Mary Overlie's The Six Viewpoints-a comprehensive, yet flexible, conceptual framework used in the performing arts world, for teaching, learning, and creating, for over 50 years. We imagine The Viewpoints could serve as a framework to help improve verbal and non-verbal communication and collaboration on medical teams and between providers and their patients. We call on health professions educators to experiment with The Viewpoints to determine how they could be adapted to support performance excellence in the medical arena.

Understanding the communication skills that support nurses to provide person-centred care.

Communication is a process of sharing information and developing relationships through interaction. It is essential for nursing care, providing a basis for nurses to establish therapeutic relationships and trust with patients and their families. It is often assumed that nurses can intuitively communicate well; as a result, traditionally there has been a lack of formal training in this area. However, communication is a skill that can be developed and enhanced. This article explains the elements of communication and discusses the skills required by nurses to communicate effectively and provide compassionate, person-centred care. The author outlines two communication models to demonstrate how nurses can use these skills to deliver bad news and support people in distress.

"Reading" the room: healthcare chaplains' challenges, insights and variations in entering rooms and engaging with patients and families.

Recent research has described broad types of healthcare chaplains' activities, but many questions remain about how these professionals perform these tasks, whether variations occur, and if so, in what ways. Twenty-three chaplains were interviewed in-depth. Chaplains described engaging in highly dynamic processes, involving both verbal and non-verbal interactions. They face challenges and vary in ways of starting interactions, using verbal and non-verbal cues, and communicating through physical appearance. In these processes, when entering patients' rooms, they seek to "read the room," follow patients' leads, look for cues, match the energy/mood in the room, and adjust their body language appropriately, while maintaining open-ended stances. They face choices of what, if anything, to communicate through clothing (e.g., wearing clerical collars or crosses) and can confront additional challenges with members of groups different than their own, at times requiring further sensitivity. These data, the first to examine challenges chaplains confront entering patients' rooms and engaging in non-verbal communication, can enhance understandings of these issues, and help chaplains and other healthcare professionals provide more sensitive and astute context-based care. These findings thus have critical implications for education, practice, and research concerning chaplains and other providers.

Best practices for communication while wearing facemasks: A scoping review.

INTRODUCTION: Facemasks are an important piece of personal protective equipment (PPE) to mitigate the spread of respiratory illnesses, but they can impede communication between patients and healthcare providers. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify effective communication practices while wearing facemasks. DESIGN: Scoping review using a systematic search of articles from the PubMed, CINAHL, and Embase databases. METHODS: The PEO (population, exposure, outcome) methodology was selected for this systematic scoping review. The population of interest (P) includes humans of all ages (children, adults, and older adults); the exposure of interest (E) is PPE that covers the mouth (i.e., facemasks); and the outcome of interest (O) is successful or unsuccessful communication practices. The Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice for Nurses and Healthcare Professionals appraisal guidelines were used to determine the level and quality of the research. RESULTS: Thirty-nine articles met the inclusion criteria. Seventeen of these were high- or good-quality research studies, and the remaining 22 were non-research articles included with separate analysis as part of the scoping review. The 17 articles encompassed 2656 participants. The highest quality evidence indicated that standard surgical masks have the least impact on speech perception compared to other non-transparent mask types, and that recognizing emotions is less accurate with facemasks, necessitating compensatory actions (i.e., reducing extraneous noise, using a microphone to amplify voice, and employing clear speech). Evidence was contradictory regarding the use of transparent masks. Evidence was of limited quality for other non-verbal and verbal communication strategies. CONCLUSION: Awareness of communication challenges is crucial when wearing facemasks. More high-quality studies are needed to evaluate communication techniques when speakers are wearing facemasks. Basic strategies such as selecting an appropriate mask type, reducing extraneous noise, using microphones, verbalizing emotions, and employing clear speech appear to be beneficial. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The findings of this scoping review highlight the importance of considering communication challenges while wearing facemasks in the healthcare settings. The review suggests that selecting an appropriate mask type, reducing extraneous noise, verbalizing emotions, and employing clear speech are some strategies that may be effective in mitigating the impact of facemasks on communication between patients and healthcare providers.

Utilizing patient-nurse verbal communication in building risk identification models: the missing critical data stream in home healthcare.

BACKGROUND: In the United States, over 12 000 home healthcare agencies annually serve 6+ million patients, mostly aged 65+ years with chronic conditions. One in three of these patients end up visiting emergency department (ED) or being hospitalized. Existing risk identification models based on electronic health record (EHR) data have suboptimal performance in detecting these high-risk patients. OBJECTIVES: To measure the added value of integrating audio-recorded home healthcare patient-nurse verbal communication into a risk identification model built on home healthcare EHR data and clinical notes. METHODS: This pilot study was conducted at one of the largest not-for-profit home healthcare agencies in the United States. We audio-recorded 126 patient-nurse encounters for 47 patients, out of which 8 patients experienced ED visits and hospitalization. The risk model was developed and tested iteratively using: (1) structured data from the Outcome and Assessment Information Set, (2) clinical notes, and (3) verbal communication features. We used various natural language processing methods to model the communication between patients and nurses. RESULTS: Using a Support Vector Machine classifier, trained on the most informative features from OASIS, clinical notes, and verbal communication, we achieved an AUC-ROC = 99.68 and an F1-score = 94.12. By integrating verbal communication into the risk models, the F-1 score improved by 26%. The analysis revealed patients at high risk tended to interact more with risk-associated cues, exhibit more "sadness" and "anxiety," and have extended periods of silence during conversation. CONCLUSION: This innovative study underscores the immense value of incorporating patient-nurse verbal communication in enhancing risk prediction models for hospitalizations and ED visits, suggesting the need for an evolved clinical workflow that integrates routine patient-nurse verbal communication recording into the medical record.

Comunicação não verbal com pacientes incapazes de se expressar verbalmente em terapia intensiva1 / Non-verbal communication with patients unable to express yourself verbally in intensive care

Introdução: A internação em Unidade de Terapia Intensiva requer muitas vezes a necessidade de ventilação mecânica do paciente por meio de intubação orotraqueal, dificultando a comunicação com os profissionais de enfermagem, sendo necessário, nessas situações, a utilização de meios de comunicação não-verbais, representados através de gestos corporais e expressões faciais. Objetivos: Verificar se a equipe de enfermagem de Terapia Intensiva se comunica adequadamente com o paciente incapaz de se expressar verbalmente, se acredita na sua necessidade e quais as situações e formas de comunicação não verbal utilizadas. Método: Estudo transversal, abordagem quantitativa e delineamento descritivo, com correlação entre as variáveis, no qual participaram 187 (84,2%) profissionais de três unidades de terapia intensiva de um hospital de ensino, no período de agosto de 2021 a janeiro de 2022, por meio de um questionário estruturado. Para a análise estatística foi utilizado o Teste de Kolmogorov Smirnov e após, aplicados os Testes de Kruskal-Wallis e o Qui-quadrado Clássico. Resultados: A maioria realiza e acredita que a comunicação não verbal auxilia na assistência e na melhora do paciente e que é um direito informar e participar sobre cuidado e tratamento. Identificou-se o uso da lousa mágica, cartões ilustrativos com letras do alfabeto e figuras das principais necessidades ou solicitações, utilizados especialmente durante a execução de procedimentos de enfermagem, durante a passagem de plantão, na visita da família e quando o paciente se encontra agitado, durante o processo de extubação orotraqueal, desmame de drogas sedoanalgésicas e ventilação mecânica ou quando precisa de conforto emocional. Conclusão: Constatou-se a utilização e crença na comunicação não verbal, de acordo com o preconizado pelo programa nacional de humanização, corroborando com a meta internacional de segurança relacionada à comunicação efetiva na assistência, servindo de referência para outros profissionais que atuam com pacientes incapazes de se expressar verbalmente

Introduction: Admission to an Intensive Care Unit often requires mechanical ventilation of the patient through orotracheal intubation, making communication with nursing professionals difficult, making it necessary, in these situations, to use non-verbal means of communication, represented through body gestures and facial expressions. Objectives: Verify whether the Intensive Care nursing team communicates adequately with patients unable to express themselves verbally, whether they believe in their need and what situations and forms of non-verbal communication are used. Method: Crosssectional study, quantitative approach and descriptive design, with correlation between variables, in with 187 (84.2%) professionals from three intensive care units of a teaching hospital, from August 2021 to January 2022, through a questionnaire. For statistical analysis, the Kolmogorov Smirnov Test was used and afterwards, the Kruskal-Wallis and the Classical Chi-square tests were applied. Results: Most perform and believe that non-verbal communication helps in patient care and improvement and that it is a right to be informed and participate in their care and treatment. It was identified the use of the magic board, illustrative cards with letters of the alphabet and figures of the main needs or requests, used especially during the execution of nursing procedures, during the shift change, in the family visit and when the patient is agitated during the process of orotracheal extubation, weaning from sedative-analgesic drugs and mechanical ventilation or when you need emotional comfort. Conclusion: It was found the use and belief in non-verbal communication, as recommended by the national humanization program, serving as a reference for other professionals who work with incapable patients to express themselves verbally

Introducción: El ingreso a una Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos requiere muchas veces ventilación mecánica del paciente mediante intubación orotraqueal, dificultando la comunicación con los profesionales de enfermería, siendo necesario, en estas situaciones, el uso de medios de comunicación no verbal, representados a través de gestos corporales y expresiones faciales. Objetivos: Verificar si el equipo de enfermería de Cuidados Intensivos se comunica adecuadamente con los pacientes que no pueden expresarse verbalmente, si creen en su necesidad y qué situaciones y formas de comunicación no verbal utilizan. Método: Estudio transversal, abordaje cuantitativo, diseño descriptivo, con correlación entre variables, con la participación de 187 (84,2%) profesionales de tres unidades de cuidados intensivos de un hospital universitario, desde agosto de 2021 hasta enero de 2022, a través de un cuestionario. Para el análisis estadístico se utilizó la prueba de Kolmogorov Smirnov, seguida de la prueba de Kruskal-Wallis y la prueba clásica de chi-cuadrado. Resultados: La mayoría de ellos cree que la comunicación no verbal ayuda en el cuidado y mejoría del paciente y que es un derecho estar informado y participar en su cuidado y tratamiento. Se identificó el uso de la pizarra mágica, tarjetas ilustrativas con letras del alfabeto e imágenes de las principales necesidades o solicitudes, utilizadas especialmente durante la ejecución de procedimientos de enfermería, durante el cambio de turno, durante la visita de la familia y cuando el paciente se encuentra agitado, durante el proceso de extubación orotraqueal, el destete de los fármacos sedantesanalgésicos y la ventilación mecánica, o cuando se necesita consuelo emocional. Conclusión: Se verificó el uso y la creencia en la comunicación no verbal, de acuerdo con las recomendaciones del programa nacional de humanización, corroborando el objetivo internacional de seguridad relacionado a la comunicación efectiva en la atención, sirviendo de referencia para otros profesionales que trabajan con pacientes incapaces de expresarse verbalmente

Differences in Social Expectations About Robot Signals and Human Signals.

In our daily lives, we are continually involved in decision-making situations, many of which take place in the context of social interaction. Despite the ubiquity of such situations, there remains a gap in our understanding of how decision-making unfolds in social contexts, and how communicative signals, such as social cues and feedback, impact the choices we make. Interestingly, there is a new social context to which humans are recently increasingly more frequently exposed-social interaction with not only other humans but also artificial agents, such as robots or avatars. Given these new technological developments, it is of great interest to address the question of whether-and in what way-social signals exhibited by non-human agents influence decision-making. The present study aimed to examine whether robot non-verbal communicative behavior has an effect on human decision-making. To this end, we implemented a two-alternative-choice task where participants were to guess which of two presented cups was covering a ball. This game was an adaptation of a "Shell Game." A robot avatar acted as a game partner producing social cues and feedback. We manipulated robot's cues (pointing toward one of the cups) before the participant's decision and the robot's feedback ("thumb up" or no feedback) after the decision. We found that participants were slower (compared to other conditions) when cues were mostly invalid and the robot reacted positively to wins. We argue that this was due to the incongruence of the signals (cue vs. feedback), and thus violation of expectations. In sum, our findings show that incongruence in pre- and post-decision social signals from a robot significantly influences task performance, highlighting the importance of understanding expectations toward social robots for effective human-robot interactions.

Autistic young people adaptively use gaze to facilitate joint attention during multi-gestural dyadic interactions.

LAY ABSTRACT: Autistic people have been said to have 'problems' with joint attention, that is, looking where someone else is looking. Past studies of joint attention have used tasks that require autistic people to continuously look at and respond to eye-gaze cues. But joint attention can also be done using other social cues, like pointing. This study looked at whether autistic and non-autistic young people use another person's eye gaze during joint attention in a task that did not require them to look at their partner's face. In the task, each participant worked together with their partner to find a computer-generated object in virtual reality. Sometimes the participant had to help guide their partner to the object, and other times, they followed their partner's lead. Participants were told to point to guide one another but were not told to use eye gaze. Both autistic and non-autistic participants often looked at their partner's face during joint attention interactions and were faster to respond to their partner's hand-pointing when the partner also looked at the object before pointing. This shows that autistic people can and do use information from another person's eyes, even when they don't have to. It is possible that, by not forcing autistic young people to look at their partner's face and eyes, they were better able to gather information from their partner's face when needed, without being overwhelmed. This shows how important it is to design tasks that provide autistic people with opportunities to show what they can do.

Dementia and communication.

People with dementia of all stages and subtypes can experience challenges with communicating. Therefore, it is vital that community nurses working with people with dementia have an understanding of the ways in which communication might be challenged, and that they have skills in communicating effectively. This article presents an overview of the ways in which dementia might impact on communication and offers the model of person-centred dementia care as a way of communicating effectively. The use of person-centred communication in practice is illustrated through a case study approach, highlighting the practical approaches that can be used by community nurses in their practice.

Sex-related communicative functions of voice spectral energy in human chorusing.

Music is a human communicative art whose evolutionary origins may lie in capacities that support cooperation and/or competition. A mixed account favouring simultaneous cooperation and competition draws on analogous interactive displays produced by collectively signalling non-human animals (e.g. crickets and frogs). In these displays, rhythmically coordinated calls serve as a beacon whereby groups of males 'cooperatively' attract potential female mates, while the likelihood of each male competitively attracting an actual mate depends on the precedence of his signal. Human behaviour consistent with the mixed account was previously observed in a renowned boys choir, where the basses-the oldest boys with the deepest voices-boosted their acoustic prominence by increasing energy in a high-frequency band of the vocal spectrum when girls were in an otherwise male audience. The current study tested female and male sensitivity and preferences for this subtle vocal modulation in online listening tasks. Results indicate that while female and male listeners are similarly sensitive to enhanced high-spectral energy elicited by the presence of girls in the audience, only female listeners exhibit a reliable preference for it. Findings suggest that human chorusing is a flexible form of social communicative behaviour that allows simultaneous group cohesion and sexually motivated competition.

Evidence for the adaptive parsing of non-communicative eye movements during joint attention interactions.

During social interactions, the ability to detect and respond to gaze-based joint attention bids often involves the evaluation of non-communicative eye movements. However, very little is known about how much humans are able to track and parse spatial information from these non-communicative eye movements over time, and the extent to which this influences joint attention outcomes. This was investigated in the current study using an interactive computer-based joint attention game. Using a fully within-subjects design, we specifically examined whether participants were quicker to respond to communicative joint attention bids that followed predictive, as opposed to random or no, non-communicative gaze behaviour. Our results suggest that in complex, dynamic tasks, people adaptively use and dismiss non-communicative gaze information depending on whether it informs the locus of an upcoming joint attention bid. We also went further to examine the extent to which this ability to track dynamic spatial information was specific to processing gaze information. This was achieved by comparing performance to a closely matched non-social task where eye gaze cues were replaced with dynamic arrow stimuli. Whilst we found that people are also able to track and use dynamic non-social information from arrows, there was clear evidence for a relative advantage for tracking gaze cues during social interactions. The implications of these findings for social neuroscience and autism research are discussed.

Aproximación teórica a las incoherencias grafo-corporales en los procesos de recogida de muestras en pericia caligráfica / Theoretical approach to grapho-corporal inconsistencies in the processes of sample collection in handwriting expertise / Abordagem teórica das inconsistências grafo-corporais nos processos de coleta de amostras em perícias de caligrafia

La recogida de muestras indubitadas al momento de elaborar un cuerpo de escritura a una persona, es un proceso de suma importancia en la pericia caligráfica. Existen parámetros por los que se rigen los peritos calígrafos al confeccionar dicho cuerpo de escritura, que se centran de forma general en la posición del escribiente, la velocidad escritural, la espontaneidad, cantidad de muestras, entre otros. Sin embargo, el escribiente puede intentar alterarlo o manipularlo de diferentes formas, normalmente intentando dificultar la labor pericial. Así, existen diversos elementos que indican a un experto en grafística que se está intentando modificar la escritura o firma durante este proceso desde el punto de vista técnico. En este sentido, el objetivo de este estudio es resaltar la importancia de recopilar un cuerpo de escritura con todas las garantías para que pueda tratarse como un documento incuestionable, además de destacar la relevancia de que el perito tenga la capacidad de confirmar la sinceridad del escribiente, tanto mediante el análisis de su escritura (grafología) como a través del análisis de su comunicación no verbal en el momento de escribirlo. Se ha utilizado una metodología cualitativa, usando la técnica de información documental, mediante la recopilación de información para su estudio y análisis, así como de monografías, manuales de estudio y artículos científicos.

The collection of indubitable samples when a corpus of handwriting is taken from a person is an extremely important process in handwriting expertise. There are parameters by which handwriting experts are governed when making such a writing corpus, which generally focus on the position of the scribe, writing speed, spontaneity, number of samples, among others. However, the scribe may try to alter or manipulate it in different ways, usually in an attempt to hinder the expert's work. Thus, there are several elements that indicate to a handwriting expert that an attempt is being made to modify the handwriting or signature during this process from a technical point of view. In this sense, the aim of this study is to highlight the importance of compiling a handwriting corpus with all the guarantees that it can be treated as an unquestionable document, as well as highlighting the importance of the expert having the ability to confirm the scribe's sincerity, both through the analysis of their handwriting (graphology) and through the analysis of their non-verbal communication at the time of writing. A qualitative methodology has been used, using the documentary information technique, by means of the collection of information for study and analysis, as well as monographs, study manuals and scientific articles.

A coleta de provas indubitáveis quando um corpo de caligrafia é retirado de uma pessoa é um processo extremamente importante na perícia de caligrafia. Existem parâmetros pelos quais os peritos em caligrafia são regidos ao fazer esse corpo de escrita, que geralmente se concentram na posição do escriba, na velocidade da escrita, na espontaneidade, no número de amostras, entre outros. No entanto, o escrevente pode tentar alterá-lo ou manipulá-lo de diversas formas, geralmente na tentativa de dificultar o trabalho do perito. Assim, existem vários elementos que indicam ao perito em caligrafia que, do ponto de vista técnico, está havendo uma tentativa de modificar a caligrafia ou a assinatura durante esse processo. Nesse sentido, o objetivo deste estudo é destacar a importância de se compilar um corpo de caligrafia com todas as garantias de que possa ser tratado como um documento inquestionável, bem como destacar a importância de o perito ter a capacidade de confirmar a sinceridade do escrevente, tanto por meio da análise de sua caligrafia (grafologia) quanto por meio da análise de sua comunicação não verbal no momento da escrita. Foi utilizada uma metodologia qualitativa, com a técnica de informação documental, por meio da coleta de informações para estudo e análise, bem como de monografias, manuais de estudo e artigos científicos.

Is the patient speaking or the nurse? Automatic speaker type identification in patient-nurse audio recordings.

OBJECTIVES: Patient-clinician communication provides valuable explicit and implicit information that may indicate adverse medical conditions and outcomes. However, practical and analytical approaches for audio-recording and analyzing this data stream remain underexplored. This study aimed to 1) analyze patients' and nurses' speech in audio-recorded verbal communication, and 2) develop machine learning (ML) classifiers to effectively differentiate between patient and nurse language. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Pilot studies were conducted at VNS Health, the largest not-for-profit home healthcare agency in the United States, to optimize audio-recording patient-nurse interactions. We recorded and transcribed 46 interactions, resulting in 3494 "utterances" that were annotated to identify the speaker. We employed natural language processing techniques to generate linguistic features and built various ML classifiers to distinguish between patient and nurse language at both individual and encounter levels. RESULTS: A support vector machine classifier trained on selected linguistic features from term frequency-inverse document frequency, Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count, Word2Vec, and Medical Concepts in the Unified Medical Language System achieved the highest performance with an AUC-ROC = 99.01 ± 1.97 and an F1-score = 96.82 ± 4.1. The analysis revealed patients' tendency to use informal language and keywords related to "religion," "home," and "money," while nurses utilized more complex sentences focusing on health-related matters and medical issues and were more likely to ask questions. CONCLUSION: The methods and analytical approach we developed to differentiate patient and nurse language is an important precursor for downstream tasks that aim to analyze patient speech to identify patients at risk of disease and negative health outcomes.

How to break bad news.

RATIONALE AND KEY POINTS: Breaking bad news is a fundamental yet challenging aspect of the role of healthcare professionals, including nurses. This article provides a step-by-step framework that nurses can use when delivering bad news and having challenging conversations with patients and/or families. • Preparation is important to ensure that challenging conversations are carried out in a suitable physical environment and with family members and/or friends present as appropriate. • Using a framework can aid nurses when undertaking challenging conversations, ensuring that all necessary aspects of the process are incorporated. • Nurses need to manage the expectations of patients and family members and respond appropriately to their emotional reactions. REFLECTIVE ACTIVITY: 'How to' articles can help to update your practice and ensure it remains evidence based. Apply this article to your practice. Reflect on and write a short account of: • How this article may help you to deliver bad news using a step-by-step framework in your practice. • How you can use the information in this article to communicate effectively and address emotional distress when breaking bad news.