"Feeling your large intestines a bit bound": clinical interaction - talk and gaze

Abstract

Objective - To explore the relationship between observation and talk in the clinical encounter, using the medical gaze as a key metaphor. Design - A qualitative case study approach based on data from one consultation. Two sequences of patient-doctor interaction are the basis of a theoretical discussion of the medical gaze. Setting - Audiotape recording from a Norwegian general practice. Results - The doctor balances observation and talk to produce an appropriate, but not necessarily the only correct diagnosis. Verbal utterances illustrate how the doctor's structuring of the diagnosis works as an interactional means both to take care of the patient and to explain his sufferings. Conclusion - Clinical medicine is talk and gaze as an integral whole. Doctors not only make a diagnosis, but also structure a clinical reality.