COMMUNICATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF DOCTOR-PATIENT INTERACTIONS

Doctor-patient interactions have been studied using differing approach es. None, however, encompassed the broad range of communicative behavi ors simultaneously within an interaction. The goal of this study was t o assess the communicative effectiveness of doctor-patient interaction s qualitatively using a pragmatics approach. Fourteen family practice residents and 70 of their patients (five for each resident) were rated using the Prutting pragmatic protocol, designed to evaluate 30 commun icative behaviors simultaneously. Nearly all of the ratings for the re sidents and the patients were appropriate (95% for the residents and 9 3% for the patients). Those behaviors rated inappropriate were analyze d for potential information about the communicative interaction. Not a ll of the 30 behaviors evaluated by the Prutting pragmatic protocol we re shown to be useful in the evaluation of communicative effectiveness in this context. However, some behaviors not rated by the protocol ap pear to be of importance for consideration. Implications for resident education are noted.