Into the spotlight: exploring the use of the dictaphone during surgical consultations.
Health Commun
; 30(5): 513-20, 2015.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25101521
ABSTRACT
The study of computer use during consultations and in clinical communication teaching has generated considerable research interest in recent decades, but few studies have investigated how the use of other technological devices such as the dictaphone may be linked to the acquisition of interpersonal communication skills. Research on the dictaphone has focused on "backstage" activity such as dictating consultation letters after consultations, and largely neglected its potential in "frontstage" interactions with patients or as an educational tool in teaching clinical communication. This article draws on 28 consultations recorded in a gastrointestinal clinic and a follow-up interview with the participating surgeon to explore the use of the dictaphone during consultations. All data were transcribed and reiterative thematic analyses were conducted. The analyses presented here show how the dictaphone can serve a range of important relational and medical functions when used to co-construct consultation letters with patients. These functions include establishing and maintaining rapport, building trust, checking and clarifying information, aiding information accuracy, and closing the consultation. This study shows how a technological device usually reserved for "backstage" medical communication can be successfully used as a communicative tool in "frontstage" interactions and illustrates the multifaceted and beneficial functions of the dictaphone.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Physician-Patient Relations
/
Referral and Consultation
/
Tape Recording
/
Communication
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Health Commun
Journal subject:
PESQUISA EM SERVICOS DE SAUDE
/
SERVICOS DE SAUDE
Year:
2015
Document type:
Article