Reading the Patient’s Mind in Patient-centred Clinics

Abstract

The recent focus of mode of consultation in patient-centred clinics can be seen not simply as technical moves towards improving the quality of care; it also describes ideological moves that set out the frame in which negotiation between patients and hospital staff can be understood. This study examines the reading of the minds of patients in effective communication in patient-centred clinics by 
presenting a pragmatic framework of subjective, intersubjective and interactive processes that take place in the consultation. The authors identify, explain and integrate relevant theoretical concepts in the processes into a theory for consideration and application. They then apply the theory to interpretation of sample texts from clinical consultations. The study foregrounds pragmatics as a
discipline that is relevant for reading patients’ minds in consultations because of its capacity for interpreting cognitive, social, textual and contextual features in medical communication.