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The Study of Polite Theory in Doctor-Patient Conversation-Based on Outpatients of Pediatrics Department

Abstract
Traditionally, doctors and patients are based on different cognitions and ways of thinking to communicate with each other. Doctors are often holding dominated role in the process. The knowledge of doctors is coming from the curricula that they have learned at medical school and their clinical experience, whereas the knowledge of patients is coming from their health experience and the information which was reported in the common medical magazines and journals. Because of the different cognitive modes of medicine between doctors and patients, the efficiency of doctor-patient communication is usually unsatisfied. With the popularity of medical information, the rise of consumers¡¦ consciousness, and the change of health insurance system, patients are asking better quality of medical treatment now. Thus, the quality of doctor-patient communication seems to be more important.
This research was employed by case study. The doctors and outpatients of the pediatrics department were selected as the research sample. Totally, the sample included six senior doctors with three different levels of hospital and 30 outpatients. The dialogs of interrogation enquiry between these doctors and patients were collected. The analytic framework was derived from Brown and Levinson¡¦s politeness theory, Grice¡¦s conversational maxims, and Roter¡¦s analytical system of doctor-patient communication behavior. This study analyzed the politeness strategies used during doctor-patient communication, and also found the communication modes that were frequently emerging in the diagnostic processes.
The research results show that the maximum politeness strategies used in pediatrics clinics is the bald on record. This reveals a kind of consensus on the importance of communication efficiency for doctors and patients. Most of patients adopt more polite strategies to communicate with doctors for medical knowledge. The results also suggest several commonly-seen dialog modes providing the further self-awareness and self-observation for doctors and patients. Indirect communication, the off-record politeness strategies are also appeared in the dialogues of doctors and patients. This study contributed toward gaining the efficiency of doctor-patient communication, thus may be helpful in the saving of medical resources.
Keywords: doctor-patient communication, politeness theory, therapeutic behavior,
pediatrics clinics

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0820108-155416
Date20 August 2008
CreatorsHuang, Yuan-Te
ContributorsHsin-Hui Lin, Feng-Yang Kuo, Fen-Hui Lin
PublisherNSYSU
Source SetsNSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive
LanguageCholon
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0820108-155416
Rightsrestricted, Copyright information available at source archive

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