This book offers a much-needed introduction to the dynamics of the communication exchange between providers and patients in the health-care environment. Starting from the principle that health-care-providers and patients try to speak the same language to reach the best decisions for patient care, but often misunderstand each other whilst navigating the process of diagnosis, treatment and care, Lisa Sparks and Melinda Villagran clearly explain how health communication theory and research can help us better understand these complex interactions, and provide strategies for improving patient and provider communication. Sparks and Villagran cover a broad range of key issues and theories related to provider-patient interaction, including patient information and affective needs, barriers to effective communication in health-care contexts, and communication skills training for providers. Drawing on the most current literature in this vibrant field, they show the transformations that new technologies such as e-mail and text messaging have brought to communication with and between patients and providers, consider the roles of caregivers, both formal and informal, and illustrate how health-care organizations impact on interpersonal interactions. Throughout the book, Sparks and Villagran deftly illustrate how communicative understandings of patient-provider interaction can have positive practical outcomes, feeding into health behaviour change, creating a communication environment which can improve health literacy and ultimately lead to better health outcomes. With groundbreaking insights, on-point explanations, and deeply moving examples, Patient and Provider Interaction illuminates and enriches what is most often one of the most important interactions of our lives.

Racial and ethnic disparities in health care are known to reflect access to care and other issues that arise from differing socioeconomic conditions. There is, however, increasing evidence that even after such differences are accounted for, race and ethnicity remain significant predictors of the quality of health care received. In Unequal Treatment, a panel of experts documents this evidence and explores how persons of color experience the health care environment. The book examines how disparities in treatment may arise in health care systems and looks at aspects of the clinical encounter that may contribute to such disparities. Patients' and providers' attitudes, expectations, and behavior are analyzed. How to intervene? Unequal Treatment offers recommendations for improvements in medical care financing, allocation of care, availability of language translation, community-based care, and other arenas. The committee highlights the potential of cross-cultural education to improve provider-patient communication and offers a detailed look at how to integrate cross-cultural learning within the health professions. The book concludes with recommendations for data collection and research initiatives. Unequal Treatment will be vitally important to health care policymakers, administrators, providers, educators, and students as well as advocates for people of color.

This volume covers many of the ways of speaking that create problems between doctor and patient. The questions under consideration in the present book are the following: How is the doctor-patient interaction structured in a particular culture? What takes place during the process? What causes misunderstandings, lack of cooperation and even total non-compliance? What is the outcome of the interaction and how does the patient benefit from it? Finally, and this is the ultimate purpose of this book: How can the interaction be improved so that an optimum outcome is assured for the patient with maximum satisfaction to the physician?

This 2006 volume provides a comprehensive discussion of communication between doctors and patients in primary care consultations. It brings together a team of leading contributors from the fields of linguistics, sociology and medicine to describe each phase of the primary care consultation, identifying the distinctive tasks, goals and activities that make up each phase of primary care as social interaction. Using conversation analysis techniques, the authors analyze the sequential unfolding of a visit, and describe the dilemmas and conflicts faced by physicians and patients as they work through each of these activities. The result is a view of the medical encounter that takes the perspective of both physicians and patients in a way that is both rigorous and humane. Clear and comprehensive, this book will be essential reading for students and researchers in sociolinguistics, communication studies, sociology, and medicine.

This volume deals with universal processes of therapeutic communication, a term which covers whatever exchange goes on between people who have a therapeutic intent, with an emphasis upon the empirical observation of the communicative process. -- Preface.

The Internet and Health Care: Theory, Research, and Practice presents an in-depth introduction to the field of health care and the Internet, from international and interdisciplinary perspectives. It combines expertise in the areas of the social sciences, medicine, policy, and systems analysis. With an international collection of contributors, it provides a current examination of key issues and research projects in the area. Methods and data used in the chapters include personal interviews, focus groups, observations, regional and national surveys, online transcript analysis, and much more. Sections in the book cover: *e-Health trends and theory; *searching, discussing, and evaluating online health information at the individual level of analysis; *discussing health information at the group or community level; and *implementing health information systems at the regional and social level. The Internet and Health Care will prove useful for university educators and students in the social, public health, and medical disciplines, including Internet researchers. It is also oriented to professionals in many disciplines who will appreciate an integrative theoretical, empirical, and critical analysis of the subject matter, including developers and providers of online health information.

The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine articulates the ideas, methods, and practices of narrative medicine. Written by the originators of the field, this book provides the authoritative starting place for any clinicians or scholars committed to learning of and eventually teaching or practicing narrative medicine.

This book offers a much-needed introduction to the dynamics of the communication exchange between providers and patients in the health-care environment. Starting from the principle that health-care-providers and patients try to speak the same language to reach the best decisions for patient care, but often misunderstand each other whilst navigating the process of diagnosis, treatment and care, Lisa Sparks and Melinda Villagran clearly explain how health communication theory and research can help us better understand these complex interactions, and provide strategies for improving patient and provider communication. Sparks and Villagran cover a broad range of key issues and theories related to provider-patient interaction, including patient information and affective needs, barriers to effective communication in health-care contexts, and communication skills training for providers. Drawing on the most current literature in this vibrant field, they show the transformations that new technologies such as e-mail and text messaging have brought to communication with and between patients and providers, consider the roles of caregivers, both formal and informal, and illustrate how health-care organizations impact on interpersonal interactions. Throughout the book, Sparks and Villagran deftly illustrate how communicative understandings of patient-provider interaction can have positive practical outcomes, feeding into health behaviour change, creating a communication environment which can improve health literacy and ultimately lead to better health outcomes. With groundbreaking insights, on-point explanations, and deeply moving examples, Patient and Provider Interaction illuminates and enriches what is most often one of the most important interactions of our lives.

Patient-Provider Communication: Roles for Speech-Language Pathologists and Other Health Care Professionals presents timely information regarding effective patient-centered communication across a variety of health care settings. Speech-language pathologists, who serve the communication needs of children and adults, as well as professionals from medical and allied health fields will benefit from this valuable resource. This text is particularly relevant because of changes in health care law and policy. It focuses on value-based care, patient engagement, and positive patient experiences that produce better outcomes. Authors describe evidence-based strategies that support communication vulnerable patients, including individuals who have difficulty speaking, hearing, understanding, seeing, reading, and writing, as well as patients whose challenges reflect limited health literacy, and/or differences in language, culture, religion, sexual orientation, and so on. Topics addressed include patient-provider communication in medical education, emergency and disaster scenarios, doctor's offices and clinics, adult and pediatric acute care settings, rehabilitation, long-term residential care, and hospice/palliative care situations. The editors are recognized internationally for their work in the field of communication disorders and have been active in the area of patient-provider communication for many years. Patient-Provider Communication is a must-have resource for speech-language pathologists and other health care providers at the forefront of quality patient-centered care.