“I’ll just see what you had before”
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Søren Beck Nielsen
Abstract
This chapter focuses on how doctors, during consultations, use computers as objects that serve diagnostic purposes. Specifically, the chapter investigates instances when doctors shift their attention towards their computers while patients present their problems. Such shifts momentarily change the focus of the doctor-patient interaction from patient-centred, in which patients typically describe their problems and/or answer questions from their own perspective, to computer-centred, where doctors seek answers about patients’ histories and general conditions as available in the digital records. I call this activity ‘historytaking side sequences’ because participants treat them as relevant departures from on-going interactional trajectories, which make a range of options such as diagnoses and informed decisions possible. The study sheds light on how computer use has become an integral part of face-to-face doctor-patient communication. More specifically, the study also shows that integrating the computer into the consultation requires doctors’ active efforts, both verbal and embodied, to indicate that the computer is a relevant object and its use is important for the medical business at hand.
Abstract
This chapter focuses on how doctors, during consultations, use computers as objects that serve diagnostic purposes. Specifically, the chapter investigates instances when doctors shift their attention towards their computers while patients present their problems. Such shifts momentarily change the focus of the doctor-patient interaction from patient-centred, in which patients typically describe their problems and/or answer questions from their own perspective, to computer-centred, where doctors seek answers about patients’ histories and general conditions as available in the digital records. I call this activity ‘historytaking side sequences’ because participants treat them as relevant departures from on-going interactional trajectories, which make a range of options such as diagnoses and informed decisions possible. The study sheds light on how computer use has become an integral part of face-to-face doctor-patient communication. More specifically, the study also shows that integrating the computer into the consultation requires doctors’ active efforts, both verbal and embodied, to indicate that the computer is a relevant object and its use is important for the medical business at hand.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
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Introduction
- On the interactional ecology of objects 3
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Part A. Objects as situated resources
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Organising and sequencing
- The order of ordering 31
- Initiating activity shifts through use of appraisal forms as material objects during performance appraisal interviews 57
- “I’ll just see what you had before” 79
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Participating and involving
- Objects as tools for talk 101
- Photo sharing as a joint activity between an aphasic speaker and others 125
- Organising the soundscape 145
- Cultivating objects in interaction 169
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Part B. Objects as practical accomplishments
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Shaping and creating
- Cooking instructions and the shaping of things in the kitchen 199
- To follow the materials 227
- Having a ball 249
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Experiencing and identifying
- Establishing joint orientation towards commercial objects in a self-service store 271
- Artworks as touchable objects 295
- Incidental and essential objects in interaction 319
- Envisioning the plan in interaction 339
- Instructed objects 357
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Epilogue
- Trajectories of the object in interaction 381
- Person index 389
- Subject index 391
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
-
Introduction
- On the interactional ecology of objects 3
-
Part A. Objects as situated resources
-
Organising and sequencing
- The order of ordering 31
- Initiating activity shifts through use of appraisal forms as material objects during performance appraisal interviews 57
- “I’ll just see what you had before” 79
-
Participating and involving
- Objects as tools for talk 101
- Photo sharing as a joint activity between an aphasic speaker and others 125
- Organising the soundscape 145
- Cultivating objects in interaction 169
-
Part B. Objects as practical accomplishments
-
Shaping and creating
- Cooking instructions and the shaping of things in the kitchen 199
- To follow the materials 227
- Having a ball 249
-
Experiencing and identifying
- Establishing joint orientation towards commercial objects in a self-service store 271
- Artworks as touchable objects 295
- Incidental and essential objects in interaction 319
- Envisioning the plan in interaction 339
- Instructed objects 357
-
Epilogue
- Trajectories of the object in interaction 381
- Person index 389
- Subject index 391
