WHEN SUPERVISING PHYSICIANS SEE PATIENTS - STRATEGIES USED IN DIFFICULT SITUATIONS

As part of training in an internal medicine ambulatory clinic, a super vising physician may see a patient who has already been seen by a trai nee. The authors conducted qualitative analyses of videotapes of medic al interactions and of the participants' commentaries regarding the in teractions. They found that physicians and trainees showed concerns re garding the emerging definitions of their relationship to each other a nd to the patient in opening the interaction and in taking history fro m the patient. The concerns experienced by supervising physicians and by trainees are described and the strategies used in opening the inter action and in interviewing the patient are analyzed. The article concl udes with an evaluation of the strategies used to manage interactional difficulties.