Negotiating relevance in pre-operative assessments

Citation

Benwell B & Rhys CS (2018) Negotiating relevance in pre-operative assessments. Social Science and Medicine, 200, pp. 218-226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.01.034

Abstract
Preoperative assessments provide an essential clinical risk assessment aimed at identifying patient risks and requirements prior to surgery. As such they require effective and sensitive information-gathering skills. In addition to physical examination, the preoperative assessment includes a series of routine questions assessing a patient's fitness for surgery. These questions are typically designed to elicit minimal, ‘no problem’ responses, but patients sometimes produce expanded responses that extend beyond the projected information. Our analysis reveals that troubles-telling is often invoked by both nurses and patients as an effective, patient-centred resource for negotiating the medical relevance of patients' concerns in these contexts.

Keywords
UK; Conversation analysis; Troubles-telling; Nurse-patient interaction

Journal
Social Science and Medicine: Volume 200

People

Dr Bethan Benwell

Senior Lecturer, English Studies