From a medical consultation to a written text: 1. Transcribing the doctor-patient dialogue

Abstract

Objective - To present a method for transcribing the doctor-patient dialogue reflecting the interactional processes of the consultation.

Design - Audiotape recording followed by transcription of one selected consultation from a Norwegian general practice. Analysis of the discourse according to pragmatic and textlinguistic principles.

Main outcome - Doctor-patient interaction made visible by the transcript. Conclusion - From a biomedical point of view, in many GP consultations, very little happens apart from the doctor-patient dialogue. on the doctor-patient interactional level, however, very much may happen. To grasp these events in an appropriate way, a biomedical way of thinking must be supplied by a linguistic-pragmatic one.

Key Words:

• language
• speech
• textlinguistics
• doctor-patient interaction