Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Communication between doctors and patients in clinical settings is notorious for being difficult. This problem has inspired a wealth of empirical research from a variety of academic fields on the subject of doctor-patient communication. However, very little attention has been paid to the role of modern medicine's intellectual self-image as natural science in interactions within clinical medical settings. The aim of the current study was to philosophically investigate the influence of the medical profession's intellectual self-image on communication between doctors and patients. Jürgen Habermas' work on Universal Pragmatics was used to comment on doctor-patient communication as it is described in the existing empirical research literature. Michel Foucault's work on discourse and power was used to analyse and describe medical discourse and the nature of power in doctor-patient relationships. The outcome of this philosophical analysis leads to the conclusion that modern medicine's intellectual self-image has a pervasive and negative influence on communication between doctors and patients during clinical consultations. This is because medicine's positivist world-view results in an almost exclusive focus on the physical aspects of disease in clinical medicine. The patient's mind and his/her social world are not of great significance from the natural scientific perspective. Medical professionals may thus easily regard their clinical task solely as the physical treatment of physical disorders. They are very likely to consider many communicative activities as unrelated to their clinical task. Inadequate doctor-patient communication can easily affect the quality of medical care and patient outcomes in a negative manner, as well as diminish the quality of the doctor's occupational experience. For this reason I conclude that medicine's natural scientific intellectual self-image is not appropriate for the task of providing medical care to individual patients. Two additional reasons support this conclusion, namely the misidentification of clinical medicine as a natural science and the inappropriateness of a scientific conception of truth for the context of doctor-patient interactions. The implications of these conclusions are that the intellectual self-image and world-view of modern medicine should change to better agree with the nature of clinical practice and to make room for the psychological and social dimensions of the patient's life within health care. The medical profession should also revise its conception of science to a theory that acknowledges that interpretive reasoning and knowledge without guaranteed certainty are legitimate elements of science. I advocate for consciousness among the medical profession of the reality of medical discourse and its effects on doctors, patients and on their interaction with one another. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kommunikasie tussen dokters en pasiënte in kliniese omgewings is daarvoor berug om moeilik te wees. Hierdie probleem het 'n magdom empiriese navorsing vanuit 'n verskeidenheid van akademiese velde omtrent dokter-pasiënt kommunikasie geïnspireer. Baie min aandag word egter gewy aan die rol van moderne geneeskunde se intellektuele selfbeeld as 'n natuurwetenskap in interaksies in kliniese mediese omgewings. Die doel van die huidige studie was om die invloed van die mediese professie se intellektuele selfbeeld op kommunikasie tussen dokters en pasiënte filosofies te ondersoek. Jürgen Habermas se werk oor Universele Pragmatiek (Universal Pragmatics) is gebruik om kommentaar te lewer oor dokter-pasiënt kommunikasie soos wat dit beskryf word in die empiriese navorsingsliteratuur. Michel Foucault se werk oor diskoers en mag is gebruik om mediese diskoers en die aard van mag in dokter-pasiënt verhoudings te ontleed en te beskryf. Hierdie filosofiese ontleding gee aanleiding tot die gevolgtrekking dat moderne geneeskunde se intellektuele selfbeeld 'n deurdringende en negatiewe invloed op kommunikasie tussen dokters en pasiënte gedurende kliniese konsultasies het. Die rede hiervoor is dat geneeskunde se positivistiese wêreldbeskouing lei tot 'n byna uitsluitlike fokus op die fisiese aspekte van siekte in kliniese geneeskunde. Die pasiënt se verstand en gees (mind) en sy/haar sosiale wêreld is nie van groot belang vanuit die natuurwetenskaplike perspektief nie. Persone in die mediese beroep mag hul kliniese taak dus maklik as bloot die fisiese behandeling van fisiese afwykings beskou. Dit is baie waarskynlik dat hulle vele kommunikatiewe aktiwiteite as onverwant tot hul kliniese taak beoordeel. Ontoereikende dokter-pasiënt kommunikasie kan die kwaliteit van mediese sorg en pasiënte se gesondheidsuitkomste maklik negatief beïnvloed, en ook die kwaliteit van die dokter se ervaring van sy/haar beroep verlaag. Om hierdie rede maak ek die gevolgtrekking dat geneeskunde se natuurwetenskaplike intellektuele selfbeeld nie toepaslik is vir die opdrag om mediese sorg aan individuele pasiënte te lewer nie. Twee verdere redes ondersteun hierdie gevolgtrekking, naamlik die verkeerdelike identifikasie van kliniese geneeskunde as 'n natuurwetenskap en die onvanpastheid van 'n wetenskaplike konsepsie van waarheid vir die konteks van dokter-pasiënt interaksies. Die implikasies van hierdie gevolgtrekkings is dat die intellektuele selfbeeld en wêreldbeskouing van moderne geneeskunde moet verander om beter ooreen te stem met die aard van die kliniese praktyk en om ruimte te maak vir die sielkundige en sosiale dimensies van die pasiënt se lewe in gesondheidsorg. Die mediese professie moet ook haar konsepsie van die wetenskap hersien na 'n teorie wat erken dat interpreterende redenasie en kennis sonder gewaarborgde sekerheid, geregverdigde elemente van die wetenskap is. Ek pleit vir bewustheid onder die mediese professie van die realiteit van mediese diskoers en die effek daarvan op dokters, pasiënte en op hul interaksie met mekaar.

Thesis (MA (African Languages))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The purpose of this study is to apply relevant and up-to-date theories concerning language learning and acquisition to the specific needs of second-language learners of isiXhosa in the field of health sciences through microanalysis of doctor-patient dialogues in isiXhosa. This study explores a task-based approach to language learning and teaching that differs from traditionally applied methods. In this approach, the performance of a task is regarded as the key feature in the language-learning process. This is in accordance with the central aim of the task-based approach to language learning and teaching, which is to transform the prescribed roles of teachers and learners in the classroom context so that learners move from being passive observers to being actively involved in their own learning processes, and teachers become facilitators and not presenters of the language.In an endeavour to exploit the possibilities of tasks in the teaching and learning of isiXhosa for health sciences needs, this study investigates the various components that comprise a task as well as the possible effects that these components may have on language learning and use. The results of the study could then provide teachers of second-language courses with specific notions and strategies, which, when successfully applied, could ensure optimal language learning and acquisition for language learners. To expand the study, an analysis is conducted regarding the presence and nature of cognitive complexity and syntactic complexity in authentic doctor-patient dialogues in isiXhosa. The classification of these conversations will serve to inform the manner in which tasks could be sequenced in a task-based language teaching course for second-language learners.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This is a qualitative analytical study that investigates the use of English as lingua franca (ELF) between doctors and patients with different L1 at four different HIV/AIDS clinics in the Western Cape. The study addresses a gap in medical research, especially in the field of HIV/AIDS, namely, a lack of sufficient data-driven analytical investigation into the linguistic and conversational nature of doctor-patient communication in ELF in this setting in South Africa. A literature review contextualises ELF, discourse analysis (DA), conversation analysis (CA) and genre theory providing a theoretical framework for the study. The methodology involves audio-recording and transcription of HIV/AIDS consultations conducted in ELF. From the genre perspective, the study investigates the different genres in and determines if HIV/AIDS consultations are a sub-genre of medical discourses. DA investigates what contextual, socio-cultural linguistic features characterise medical interaction in this multilingual context and what ELF linguistic strategies participants use to signal and resolve misunderstanding. CA investigates the turn organisation and turn-taking patterns in the consultations to assess participants’ contributions and identify different types of sequences that characterise them, aiming to understand how they enable the interactants play their roles as doctors and patients. The results reveal that HIV/AIDS consultations exhibit formal features of doctor-patient consultations in general and intertextually revert to other oral genres leading to the conclusion that, considering their purpose, participants and context, HIV/AIDS consultations are like all medical consultations and are a sub-genre of medical discourse. The macro analysis reveals that the interactants’ socio-cultural and multi-linguistic backgrounds do positively influence the nature of the interaction in this context as it highlights characteristic linguistic features of ELF usage like borrowing, linguistic transference from L1, the use of analogy, code-switching and local metaphors all resulting from processes of indigenisation and hybridisation. The results reveal few instances of misunderstanding, concurring with earlier studies that problems of miscommunication may be minimal when two languages and/or cultural groups interact. The micro analysis reveals that the turns in the consultation follow the pre-selection and recurrent speakership patterns and that despite the advocacy for partnership between doctors and patients in their contribution and negotiation of outcomes, the doctor unavoidably remains the dominant partner. S/he determines the course of the consultation by initiating more turns, asking most of the questions and often unilaterally deciding on topic changes. S/he has longer talking time than the patient in the sequences and the physical examination and prescription phases of the consultation while the patient is mostly portrayed almost as a docile participant yielding to the doctor’s requests and taking very little if any initiative of his/her own to communicate his/her views and desires. The study reveals instances of both patient and doctor initiated repair to resolve any misunderstanding, which improves the quality of the interaction and its outcomes such as adherence and treatment follow-up. The study further highlights the challenges faced in the field which impacted on the data, the most crucial being the complicated but necessary ethical procedures required to get participants’ consent to participate in the study. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie kwalitatiewe analitiese studie ondersoek die gebruik van Engels as lingua franca (ELF) tussen dokters en pasiënte met verskillende eerstetaal (T1) by vier verskillende MIV/vigs-klinieke in die Wes-Kaap. Die studie werp die soeklig op ʼn leemte in mediese navorsing, veral op MIV/vigs-gebied, en bring ʼn gebrek aan datagedrewe analitiese ondersoek na die taalkundige en gespreksaard van dokter-pasiënt-kommunikasie in ELF in hierdie omgewing in Suid-Afrika aan die lig. ʼn Literatuuroorsig van navorsing kontekstualiseer ELF, genre-teorie, diskoersanalise (DA) en gespreksanalise (GA), en bied ʼn teoretiese raamwerk vir die studie. Die navorsingsmetode behels oudio-opnames en transkripsie van MIV/vigs-konsultasies in ELF. Uit die genre-oogpunt bestudeer die navorsing die verskillende genres in MIV-konsultasies, en bepaal of dié konsultasies as ʼn subgenre van mediese diskoers beskou kan word. Met behulp van DA stel die studie vas watter kontekstuele, sosiokulturele taaleienskappe mediese interaksie in hierdie veeltalige konteks kenmerk, en watter ELF-taalstrategieë deelnemers gebruik om misverstande aan te dui en op te los. Daarna ondersoek GA die beurtorganisasie en beurtmaakpatrone in die konsultasies, om deelnemers se bydraes te beoordeel en verskillende soorte kenmerkende sekwensies uit te wys, en uiteindelik te begryp hoe dít die onderskeie partye in staat stel om hul rolle as dokters en pasiënte te vervul. Die bevindinge dui daarop dat MIV-konsultasies formele kenmerke van dokter-pasiënt-konsultasies in die algemeen toon en intertekstueel by ander mondelinge genres aansluit. Dít lei tot die gevolgtrekking dat, gedagtig aan die doel, deelnemers en konteks, MIV-konsultasies soos enige ander mediese konsultasie is en as ʼn subgenre van mediese diskoers beskou kan word. Die makro-analise (DA) toon dat die onderskeie gespreksdeelnemers se sosiokulturele en veeltalige agtergronde ʼn positiewe uitwerking het op die aard van die wisselwerking in hierdie konteks, aangesien dit kenmerkende taalkundige eienskappe van ELF-gebruik, soos leenwoorde, taaloordrag vanaf die L1, die gebruik van analogie, koderuiling en plaaslike metafore, beklemtoon. Al hierdie eienskappe spruit uit prosesse van verinheemsing en hibridisering. Die studie toon min gevalle van misverstand, wat met die resultate van vorige navorsing ooreenstem, naamlik dat probleme van wankommunikasie minimaal is wanneer twee tale en/of kultuurgroepe met mekaar omgaan. Die mikro-ontleding (GA) dui daarop dat die beurte in die konsultasie die preseleksie- en herhalende sprekerspatrone volg en dat, ondanks die voorspraak vir ʼn vennootskap tussen dokters en pasiënte in hul bydraes en bedinging van uitkomste, die dokter onvermydelik die dominante vennoot bly. Hy/sy bepaal die verloop van die konsultasie deur meer beurte aan te voer, die meeste vrae te stel en dikwels eensydig te besluit om die onderwerp te verander. Hy/sy het ook ʼn langer spreekbeurt as die pasiënt in die gespreksekwensies sowel as in die fisiese-ondersoek- en voorskriffases van die konsultasie. Daarenteen word die pasiënt merendeels as ʼn bykans gedweë deelnemer uitgebeeld wat aan die dokter se versoeke toegee en weinig of geen eie inisiatief aan die dag lê om sy/haar sienings en behoeftes oor te dra. Die studie toon ook gevalle van sowel pasiënt- as dokteraangevoerde herstel om enige misverstand uit die weg te ruim, wat die gehalte van die wisselwerking én die uitkomste daarvan, soos behandelingsgetrouheid en nasorg, verbeter. Die navorsing beklemtoon voorts die gebiedspesifieke uitdagings wat die data beïnvloed. Die belangrikste hiervan is die ingewikkelde dog nodige etiese prosedures wat vereis word om persone se toestemming tot studiedeelname te verkry.

This thesis investigates how Japanese doctors create and maintain patient-centred consultations through their verbal interaction with patients, and the extent to which features of Japanese interpersonal communication influence the institutional discourse. Audio recordings of 72 doctor-patient interactions were collected at the outpatient department of a Japanese teaching hospital. All consultations involved new cases. There were two kinds of consultations: a preliminary history-taking interview with an intern and a diagnostic consultation given by an experienced doctor. After transcribing the recordings sequences of the discourse were analysed qualitatively on a turn-by-turn basis and a corpus of the data was analysed quantitatively to establish frequencies of discourse features related to patientcentredness. A review of literature (Chapter 2) establishes the standard structure of medical consultations and the relationship of the doctor and patient during consultations in terms of the asymmetry of speaking initiative according to consultation phases. The second part of Chapter 2 is an examination of Japanese communication style, attested to be influenced by culturally specific norms of behaviour that are demonstrable through verbal interactions. Chapter 3 describes the research method, and this is followed by four chapters of analysis. Chapter 4 describes the nature of the two kinds of consultations; the phases they include, and how the participants shift from one phase to the next with phase transition markers. Particular attention is paid to opening and closing phases, as they are most relevant to the establishment and consolidation of a patient-centred relationship. Chapter 5 investigates patterns of questioning by doctors, identifying functional categories of questions to see how they are used to coax information from the patient. Chapter 6 examines how the doctor encourages the patient’s narrative through backchanneling; how the doctor accommodates the patient through sensitive explanations of treatments and procedures; and how the voice of the patient emerges through calls for clarification, and voicing concerns. Chapter 7 highlights discourse sequences that may indicate culturally specific influences, and examines the emergence of laughter as an indicator of Japanese interpersonal interaction. The features of these Japanese consultations are consistent with medical consultations described in English speaking settings regarding phases and the discourse strategies used to achieve patient-centredness. While there appear to be Japanese cultural influences in the interactions consistent with previous cross-cultural studies the author argues that the institutional setting (clinical framework) is more immediately relevant to the conversational dynamics of the interactions than the Japanese cultural setting. Finally, medical consultations involving new cases have more features of service encounters and therefore not controlled by the guidance-cooperation model of doctor-patient interaction.

Thesis advisor: Sharlene N. Hesse-Biber / This dissertation seeks to understand obstetricians’ lived experience of decision-making in childbirth and investigate how the organizational context within which obstetricians work influences how they make treatment decisions. Understanding how obstetricians make decisions in childbirth is important because maternity care in the United States is in crisis. Our system is failing women on multiple accounts: between 1990 and 2013, maternal mortality more than doubled in the United States, and is higher than most other high-income countries. Furthermore, women continue to suffer from abusive practices by maternity care providers who dismiss their concerns and sometimes outright refuse to honor their self-determination in childbirth. Today multiple stakeholders acknowledge a need for maternity care reform; this creates new challenges for health care policy and opportunities for social science research. Obstetrician-gynecologists provide the majority of maternity care to American women, and this dissertation examines their lived experience of decision-making in birth and analyzes how a range of social forces affect this process. To investigate this phenomenon I performed 50 in-depth interviews with obstetricians from Massachusetts, Louisiana and Vermont about how they make patient care decisions in birth. The specific research questions and analysis for each chapter evolved through an iterative process that combined analytical grounded theory and template analysis. I present this in a three-article format. In article one I show how shift-work models of labor and delivery pose challenges to using a patient-centered approach to decision-making. Obstetricians either work shifts in labor and delivery or they work on-call for their patients’ births. The current thinking is that shifts are good because they allow work-life balance for doctors, reduce fatigue, and reduce convenience-based decisions. Shift work models assume that doctors and patients are interchangeable because doctors will follow protocols and standards of care produced by medical professional organizations. I argue shift work does not work in practice the way it does in theory. I explain how there are not standards for many decisions in birth, instead these decisions are characterized by medical uncertainty. In these cases, doctors rely on patient-centered approaches to make decisions. But shift work limits doctors’ ability to use patient-centered approaches. I found that shift-work models of hospital care do not provide doctors the opportunity to get to know their patients and understand their preferences. In practices that do not depend on shift work, the doctor patient relationship is far less fragmented and doctors tend to experience less conflict with their patients and are less likely to rely on stereotypes that reproduce social inequality. In article two I examine obstetricians’ understandings of convenience as a motivation in decision-making. Anecdotal evidence suggests that obstetricians sometimes make clinical care decisions less out of concern for their patients and more out of concern for their own time and schedule. This may be a particular problem in on-call models. In this paper I show doctors’ stories match anecdotal evidence: Some obstetricians make clinical decisions in birth based partially on their own convenience. Yet others actively resist the temptation of convenience, even in on-call care. A key dimension of this difference lies in doctors’ understandings of the nature of time in labor and the safety of interventions. Some doctors have a faster-the-better approach to birth and believe the routine use of interventions is the best way to practice in labor and delivery. These doctors frame their own convenience as legitimate because it overlaps with the idea that speeding up the labor is inherently good. Alternatively, other doctors believe time in labor is productive, and that interventions should be used judiciously because they increase risk of harm. These doctors cannot easily legitimize convenience because it conflicts with the reduction of interventions as a key dimension of this philosophy. I argue that because shift work poses serious challenges to patient-centered care, cultural change is a better avenue for reducing births of convenience. Article three addresses an ongoing question in medical sociology about whether physicians maintain control over their clinical work amidst challenges to their authority. Patient empowerment and standardization are two movements that sociologists have theorized in terms of weakening of doctors’ clinical discretion. I uncover how obstetricians draw on the conflicting nature of these approaches strategically to maintain their power in the face of a threat. Standards and patient empowerment act as countervailing powers; they drew on one to off set the challenge to their authority posed by the other. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

A proposição dessa dissertação é demonstrar as características do processo comunicativo que acontece na relação médico-paciente, dentro do ambulatório, a fim de compreender sua função como mediadora da tensão existente entre as expectativas do paciente quanto ao atendimento idealizado e o serviço público realmente prestado na área da saúde em São Paulo. Considerou-se pertinente analisar a questão da comunicação na saúde pública em São Paulo, usando como parâmetro o Hospital do Servidor Público Francisco Morato de Oliveira, pertencente ao Instituto de Assistência Médica ao Servidor Público Estadual, o IAMSPE, por ser uma instituição que poderá fornecer dados sobre uma população de usuários, de serviços e de médicos. Para isso foi preciso identificar as normas padrão de atendimento do hospital; a percepção do paciente sobre o médico e também de como acha que o médico o percebe, assim como do atendimento recebido pelo médico e pela Instituição. A percepção dos médicos sobre si mesmo, sobre o paciente e o atendimento oferecido por ele e pela Instituição. A noção de comunicação de ambos e a qualidade da comunicação nesta relação - procurando identificar os condicionantes que existem entre o atendimento esperado e o atendimento real. Foi realizada uma pesquisa de campo com médicos e pacientes dos serviços mais representativos (pela importância e população atendida) e essa amostra mostrou-se significativa, tanto pelos dados colhidos pelos questionários quanto pela observação feita pelos pesquisadores. Os resultados dos dados e das informações colhidas são um retrato temporal dos papéis percebidos e vividos por médicos e pacientes no contexto de uma instituição de saúde pública na cidade de São Paulo. / This dissertation aims to study the characteristics of the communication process between the doctor and the patient within the clinic, so as to better understand it and analyze it as the mediation between patients\' expectations - concerning idealized public health service - and the real public health service offered in São Paulo. Therefore, communication in Hospital do Servidor Público Francisco Morato de Oliveira (a public hospital), a division of Instituto de Assistência Médica do Servidor Público Estadual IAMSPE (Health Care System of the Public Sector), was analyzed. This institution provided valuable data and information about its patients, services and physicians. To carry this research out, it was necessary to identify how the hospital provides its service, how the patient perceives the physician and how he believes the physician perceives him -, how the patient perceives the services of the physician and of the Institution, and how the physicians perceive themselves, patients and the service offered both by himself/herself and by the Institution. The notion and the quality of the communication in this relationship were studied in order to identify the characteristics of both desired and real services. A field research was carried out with physicians and patients of the most representative services (ranked by importance and by the size of the population served), and this portion of the population proved itself to be significant, because of both the data collected through questionnaires and the researchers view point. The results of the data and information collected are a timely picture of the roles perceived and lived by doctors and patients in the context of a public health care institution in the city of São Paulo.

O foco deste estudo está nas possíveis transformações na relação de poder estabelecida entre médico e paciente representada em três comunidades virtuais com tema em saúde-doença. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualiquantitativa com uso da técnica do Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo (DSC), o que possibilita a construção de discursos coletivos distintos que expressam as representações sociais de uma coletividade. Como resultado é possível verificar: (i) porque as pessoas participam de comunidades virtuais; (ii) como as pessoas participam; (iii) como se organizam essas comunidades; (iv) quais tipos de informações são mais buscados; (v) quais conteúdos informacionais existem nos fóruns de discussão (vi) como se dá a interação entre integrantes da comunidade; (vii) como as relações de poder estabelecidas entre médico e paciente são tratadas nas comunidades; (viii) identificação de possíveis transformações na relação de poder estabelecida entre médico e paciente. Conclui-se que a maior parte dos integrantes das comunidades analisadas está em um nível associativo-participativo de compartilhamento das informações e experiências. Esse nível, apesar de não se constituir em ação de cooperação e prática de produção coletiva, permite aos integrantes se tornarem pacientes mais ativos em seus processos de saúde e doença. Os resultados sugerem que o princípio ético da autonomia está, legalmente e na prática, mais fortalecido, contribuindo com a constituição de um indivíduo integrante, interativo, mais autônomo / Possible changes in the power relationship established between doctor and patient represented in three online communities which address the subject of health and illness is the focus of this study. This is a qualitative and quantitative research using the Collective Subject Discourse (DSC), which allows the construction of separate collective discourse, which expresses the social representations of a collectivity. As a result, it is possible to verify: (i) why people participate in such virtual communities , (ii) how people participate, (iii) how those communities are organized, (iv) what types of information are most searched, (v) which information exist in those discussion forums (vi) how community members interact, (vii) how the power relations established between doctor and patient are treated in these communities, (viii) identification of possible changes in the relationship established power between doctor and patient. We conclude that most members of the communities studied are in an associative-participatory level regarding information and experiences sharing. This level, though is not considered as an action of mutual cooperation and collective production practice, allows members of such communities to become more active as patients in their processes of health and disease. The results suggest that the principle of autonomy is, legally and in practice, more energized, contributing to the constitution of an individual, integral, interactive, and increasingly autonomous

There are numerous empirically described problems of communication in healthcare. The doctor/patient relationship is fundamental to many such problems. The changing nature of healthcare and the doctor/patient relationship is explored in this thesis. An increasing evidence base demonstrates that patient outcomes in healthcarea re directly relatedt o clinical communication. However, more fundamental than patient outcomes is the very nature of personhood and the effects illness has on individual autonomy. A theory of human need provides the foundation for discussion. Autonomy in healthcare is discussed in these terms and is argued as a basic human need. Moreover, human communication is argued as a basic human need using the same theoretic approach. It therefore follows logically that health professionals have the same duties and responsibilities to meet basic human communication needs on the same terms as those for autonomy. The relationship between autonomy and communication is shown to be a reflexive one. A theory of democratic communication is drawn on to describe the type of communication that will meet autonomy and communication needs. This is set in the context of healthcare. Consent in healthcare is used to show how far we have come in meeting communication and autonomy needs. Given the arguments o far it is reasonable to expect medical education to respond to the changing and recognised needs of the users of healthcare. The role of effective communication in medical education programmes is explored. Finally, a strategic approach to organising and delivering a communication curriculum is proffered which tries to meet both the philosophically and democratically argued basic needs. The resulting communication curriculum combines theoretic foundations with a pragmatic approach to the problems of clinical practice. If the approaches in this thesis are followed then communication can no longer be perceived as something doctors do after they have completed other medical tasks. Effective doctors have to be effective communicators in order to meet patients' needs.

A presente tese tem por objetivo estudar alguns aspectos semióticos de paixão e persuação na relação médico-paciente, uma relação sempre marcada pela verticalização e pela complexidade - de um lado, o poder de persuasão de quem detém o conhecimento; de outro, a fragilidade de quem está doente e precisa da cura. Para esse estudo, será apresentado, em uma primeira parte, um panorama da história da Medicina ocidental, bem como comparações entre os médicos atuais e os xamãs e feiticeiros de antigas civilizações. Verificar-se-á que o prestígio do profissional da Medicina atual assemelha-se ao respeito de que gozava o xamã naquelas sociedades: tanto um quanto o outro, ao estabelecer a cura de um doente, possibilitam sua reintegração ao grupo social a que pertencia e do qual foi separado em razão de sua enfermidade. Em seguida, serão apresentados os modelos teóricos presentes nos escritos de A. J. Greimas e C. T. Pais para que se estudem três casos narrados por médicos de três diferentes especialidades - um ortopedista, um cirurgião de cabeça e pescoço e uma cardiologista. Com a análise semiótica das narrativas, chegar-se-á ao estudo da \"visão de mundo\" subjacente aos citados casos e seus desdobramentos, bem como a análise do comportamento dos sujeitos envolvidos na busca do objeto de valor: o restabelecimento da saúde. De um lado, o profissional da Medicina, que deve seguir os preceitos de sua profissão, bem como os mandamentos da chamada Bioética, para que seja sancionado positivamente pela sociedade da qual faz parte; de outro, o paciente, que freqüentemente deposita no médico mais expectativas de cura do que esse profissional pode alcançar. Serão levadas em conta, também, as teorias de J. Campbell sobre o \"mito do herói\", bem como a teoria dos \"arquétipos\" de C. Jung. Em suma, este trabalho procurou analisar, sob o ponto de vista da semiótica e da bioética, as condições em que se pode desenvolver a relação entre médico e paciente. Assim, esperamos poder contribuir, de alguma forma, para estudos posteriores que se proponham a investigar o universo da Medicina / This thesis intends to study some semiotics aspects of passion and persuasion in the doctor-patient relationship, a relationship marked by verticalization and complexity - on the one hand, the power of persuasion of a doctor who has the know-how; on the other hand, the fragility of someone who is ill and needs to be cured. On this study, a synthetic history of Western Medicine will be shown, including a comparison between the modern doctors and old witch doctors from primitive tribes. It´ll be clear that the status of the modern doctors has not changed from that time because both of them, when they get to cure a person, can bring back the patient to his social group, since any ill person is separated from his family and friends due to the ilness. After that, the theoric patterns of Greimas and Pais will be shown in order to study three cases told by three different doctors from three different areas of Medicine: Orthopedics, Head and Neck Surgery and Cardiology. With the semiotic analysis of the cases, the \"interpretation of the world\" will be identified according to the relationship studied, as well as the analysis of the behavior of the characters searching their goals: the recovering from the illness. We will find the doctor who must obey the laws of his profession, as well the commandments of Bioethics, to be approved by the social group in which he lives; but we will find, too, the patient who often expects more than he should from his doctor. J. Campbell´s theories about \"The mith of the hero\" and Jung´s \"Theory of the Archetypes\" will be important to this work too. In short, this work tried to study, considering Semiotic and Bioethic, the conditions and problems envolving the relationship between doctor and patient. We hope we can give some contribuiton to future works that may intend to investigate the Medicine world.

A presente tese tem por objetivo estudar alguns aspectos semióticos de paixão e persuação na relação médico-paciente, uma relação sempre marcada pela verticalização e pela complexidade - de um lado, o poder de persuasão de quem detém o conhecimento; de outro, a fragilidade de quem está doente e precisa da cura. Para esse estudo, será apresentado, em uma primeira parte, um panorama da história da Medicina ocidental, bem como comparações entre os médicos atuais e os xamãs e feiticeiros de antigas civilizações. Verificar-se-á que o prestígio do profissional da Medicina atual assemelha-se ao respeito de que gozava o xamã naquelas sociedades: tanto um quanto o outro, ao estabelecer a cura de um doente, possibilitam sua reintegração ao grupo social a que pertencia e do qual foi separado em razão de sua enfermidade. Em seguida, serão apresentados os modelos teóricos presentes nos escritos de A. J. Greimas e C. T. Pais para que se estudem três casos narrados por médicos de três diferentes especialidades - um ortopedista, um cirurgião de cabeça e pescoço e uma cardiologista. Com a análise semiótica das narrativas, chegar-se-á ao estudo da \"visão de mundo\" subjacente aos citados casos e seus desdobramentos, bem como a análise do comportamento dos sujeitos envolvidos na busca do objeto de valor: o restabelecimento da saúde. De um lado, o profissional da Medicina, que deve seguir os preceitos de sua profissão, bem como os mandamentos da chamada Bioética, para que seja sancionado positivamente pela sociedade da qual faz parte; de outro, o paciente, que freqüentemente deposita no médico mais expectativas de cura do que esse profissional pode alcançar. Serão levadas em conta, também, as teorias de J. Campbell sobre o \"mito do herói\", bem como a teoria dos \"arquétipos\" de C. Jung. Em suma, este trabalho procurou analisar, sob o ponto de vista da semiótica e da bioética, as condições em que se pode desenvolver a relação entre médico e paciente. Assim, esperamos poder contribuir, de alguma forma, para estudos posteriores que se proponham a investigar o universo da Medicina / This thesis intends to study some semiotics aspects of passion and persuasion in the doctor-patient relationship, a relationship marked by verticalization and complexity - on the one hand, the power of persuasion of a doctor who has the know-how; on the other hand, the fragility of someone who is ill and needs to be cured. On this study, a synthetic history of Western Medicine will be shown, including a comparison between the modern doctors and old witch doctors from primitive tribes. It´ll be clear that the status of the modern doctors has not changed from that time because both of them, when they get to cure a person, can bring back the patient to his social group, since any ill person is separated from his family and friends due to the ilness. After that, the theoric patterns of Greimas and Pais will be shown in order to study three cases told by three different doctors from three different areas of Medicine: Orthopedics, Head and Neck Surgery and Cardiology. With the semiotic analysis of the cases, the \"interpretation of the world\" will be identified according to the relationship studied, as well as the analysis of the behavior of the characters searching their goals: the recovering from the illness. We will find the doctor who must obey the laws of his profession, as well the commandments of Bioethics, to be approved by the social group in which he lives; but we will find, too, the patient who often expects more than he should from his doctor. J. Campbell´s theories about \"The mith of the hero\" and Jung´s \"Theory of the Archetypes\" will be important to this work too. In short, this work tried to study, considering Semiotic and Bioethic, the conditions and problems envolving the relationship between doctor and patient. We hope we can give some contribuiton to future works that may intend to investigate the Medicine world.