Communicating in Hospital Emergency Departments

Slade, Diana; Manidis, Marie; McGregor, Jeannette; Scheeres, Hermine; Chandler, Eloise; Stein‐Parbury, Jane; Dunston, Roger; Herke, Maria; Matthiessen, Christian M.I.M.

doi:10.1007/978-3-662-46021-4

Cited by 58 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The authors' research interests center on how ELF communicative processes such as lexical/structural simplification, approximation, or enhanced explicitness are brought to bear in ELF health care interactions. The reality that miscommunications may lead to serious threats to patient safety has been well documented (Foronda, MacWilliams, & McArthur, ), and the challenges to accurate health care communication in English have been described across a range of contexts such as emergency departments (Slade et al, ), clinical handovers (Eggins, Slade, & Geddes, ), pediatric hospitals (Cohen, ), and between health care professionals in Intensive Care Units (Gurses & Carayon, ). Studies specifically on language barriers have revealed difficulties in practitioner–patient interaction, reduced treatment adherence, and limited access to care, among other challenges (e.g., Graham, Gilchrist, & Rector, ; Ian, Nakamura‐Florez, & Lee, ).…”

Section: Defining (Medical) English As a Lingua Francamentioning

confidence: 99%

Research directions in medical English as a lingua franca (MELF)

Tweedie

Johnson²

2019

Language and Linguist. Compass

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This article asserts that medical English as a lingua franca (MELF) represents an important direction for future research in ELF. The flow of health care workers across international borders and the role of English as the dominant language of international communication and medicine position MELF interactions as increasingly common in medical contexts worldwide. Research is called for with respect to the relationship of MELF to ELF, and specifically whether ELF linguistic features and pragmatic strategies are incorporated in medical contexts, where communicative immediacy and precision figure centrally. Since criticisms of ELF research include its relatively narrow contexts for study (to date mostly European and on a lesser scale East Asian) and its limited domains (higher education and business), MELF presents an opportunity to expand the research scope of ELF considerably. While suggesting that migrant destinations like the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council represent especially relevant sites for researching MELF, the article argues that a definition of ELF that includes native speaker interactions allows for the possibility of MELF research where English is considered a dominant native language. Concerns over the effect of miscommunication on patient safety are well researched in health care disciplines, and so a fuller understanding of MELF may assist in the delivery of safe and effective patient care within the linguistic complexity characterizing health care.

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Section: Defining (Medical) English As a Lingua Francamentioning

confidence: 99%

Research directions in medical English as a lingua franca (MELF)

Tweedie

Johnson²

2019

Language and Linguist. Compass

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“…Central to this is listening to patients, opening up the space to allow them to describe their concerns, which might be missed in more clinician-dominated consultations (Slade et al, 2011). This step also forms the basis of engaging patients and encouraging their participation in consultations.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Communication in Hong Kong Accident and Emergency Departments

Chandler

Slade

Pun

et al. 2015

Global Qualitative Nursing Research

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In this article, we report findings from the first qualitatively driven study of patient–clinician communication in Hong Kong Accident and Emergency Departments (AEDs). In light of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority’s policy emphasis on patient-centered care and communication in the public hospitals it oversees, we analyze clinicians’ perceptions of the role and relevance of patient-centered communication strategies in emergency care. Although aware of the importance of effective communication in emergency care, participants discussed how this was frequently jeopardized by chronic understaffing, patient loads, and time pressures. This was raised in relation to the absence of spoken interdisciplinary handovers, the tendency to downgrade interpersonal communication with patients, and the decline in staff attendance at communication training courses. Participants’ frequent descriptions of patient-centered communication as dispensable from, and time-burdensome in, AEDs highlight a discrepancy between the stated Hong Kong Hospital Authority policy of patient-centered care and the reality of contemporary Hong Kong emergency practice.

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“…Linguistic research has increasingly focused on medical communication, such as verbal exchanges in emergency settings16 and consultations between health professionals and patients 17. In medical consultations, doctors can repair any misunderstanding evident in their patients' responses, and patients do have the opportunity to ask questions, provided they have sufficient language and confidence to do so.…”

Section: Medical Communication Face-to-face and Via The Internetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Language, terminology and the readability of online cancer information

et al. 2015

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Medical terms are a recognised problem in doctor-patient consultations. By contrast, the language difficulties of online healthcare documents are underestimated, even though patients are often encouraged to go to the internet for information. Literacy levels in the community vary, and for patients, carers and health workers with limited reading skills (including first- and second-language users of English), the language of web-based health documents may be challenging or impenetrable. Online delivery of health information is inherently problematic because it cannot provide two-way discussion; and amid the range of health documents on the web, the intended readership (whether general or specialist) is rarely indicated up front. In this research study, we focus on the language and readability of web-based cancer documents, using lexicostatistical methods to profile the vocabularies in two large test databases of breast cancer information, one consisting of material designed for health professionals, the other for the general public. They yielded significantly different word frequency rankings and keyness values, broadly correlating with their different readerships, that is, scientifically literate readers for the professional dataset, and non-specialist readers for the public dataset. The higher type/token ratio in the professional dataset confirms its greater lexical demands, with no concessions to the variable language and literacy skills among second-language health workers. Their language needs can, however, be addressed by a new online multilingual termbank of breast cancer vocabulary, HealthTermFinder, designed to sit alongside health documents on the internet, and provide postconsultation help for patients and carers at their point of need.

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Communicating in Hospital Emergency Departments

Cited by 58 publications

References 39 publications

Research directions in medical English as a lingua franca (MELF)

Research directions in medical English as a lingua franca (MELF)

Communication in Hong Kong Accident and Emergency Departments

Language, terminology and the readability of online cancer information

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