Communication and Professional Relationships in Healthcare Practice

Communication and Professional Relationships in Healthcare Practice focuses on the crucial role that spoken interactions play in shaping relationships in contemporary healthcare practice. The authors apply theoretical concepts of communication to the workplace of healthcare, drawing upon scenarios based in the settings of clinical experience. The book presents a range of interactions (including consultations, team meetings, dialogues and casual conversations) between health professionals, their colleagues and their clients or patients in a variety of settings. Drawing on the latest research in applied linguistics and professional communication, the authors introduce readers to a number of approaches that can be used to analyse these interactions. Using these techniques, readers will discover exactly how central themes of healthcare practice (including trust, empathy, expertise and breaking bad news) are constructed through the communicative choices that participants make in these interactions.

Designed specifically for medical, nursing and allied health practitioners with an interest in communication, this book makes the techniques of discourse analysis accessible and provides ample opportunities for individual practitioners to apply this knowledge to their own professional contexts.

Sally Candlin, in her position of Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University, taught for a number of years in the Masters program in Communication in Professions and Organisations and supervises the research of postgraduate students. She is the author of Therapeutic Communication: A Lifespan Approach (Pearson Education, 2008). She has taught in nursing and health programs, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the University of Technology, Sydney, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the University of Western Sydney. She is a Registered Nurse, Registered Midwife and a Health Visitor. Peter Roger is a Lecturer in Linguistics at Macquarie University. His teaching spans several Master's degree programs, including Applied Linguistics, Communication in Professions and Organisations, and Speech Pathology. He studied Medicine at the University of Sydney, and after graduating worked as a medical practitioner for several years before going on to complete a Doctor of Philosophy degree in communication sciences and disorders. He has published in a variety of journals, including the Journal of Neurology, Brain Injury, Aphasiology, Neuroradiology, Asia Pacific Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing, and the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.

Sally Candlin, in her position of Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University, taught for a number of years in the Masters program in Communication in Professions and Organisations and supervises the research of postgraduate students. She is the author of Therapeutic Communication: A Lifespan Approach (Pearson Education, 2008). She has taught in nursing and health programs, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the University of Technology, Sydney, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the University of Western Sydney. She is a Registered Nurse, Registered Midwife and a Health Visitor. Peter Roger is a Lecturer in Linguistics at Macquarie University. His teaching spans several Master's degree programs, including Applied Linguistics, Communication in Professions and Organisations, and Speech Pathology. He studied Medicine at the University of Sydney, and after graduating worked as a medical practitioner for several years before going on to complete a Doctor of Philosophy degree in communication sciences and disorders. He has published in a variety of journals, including the Journal of Neurology, Brain Injury, Aphasiology, Neuroradiology, Asia Pacific Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing, and the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.