Weatherall2024
| Weatherall2024 | |
|---|---|
| BibType | ARTICLE |
| Key | Weatherall2023a |
| Author(s) | Ann Weatherall, Fiona Grattan |
| Title | A Conversation Analytic Study of Calls to Medical Reception for Doctor’s Appointments |
| Editor(s) | |
| Tag(s) | EMCA, Medical CA, In press |
| Publisher | |
| Year | 2023 |
| Language | English |
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| Journal | Health Communication |
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| URL | Link |
| DOI | 10.1080/10410236.2023.2222462 |
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Abstract
A call to medical reception is regularly an entry point into primary health care services. Telephone-mediated interactions between patients and receptionists have been found to temper demand for doctor’s appointments and influence patient satisfaction ratings; yet little is known about what exactly happens to produce those effects. The present study asks how medical receptionists respond to telephone-mediated appointment requests. Audio recordings of 18 calls between receptionists and patients at a New Zealand University health care practice were collected, transcribed and examined in detail using conversation analysis. The findings reveal the complexity of telephone-mediated medical receptionist work which involves multiple engagements involving the caller and the on-line booking systems. The work has clinical components and evidence was found of receptionists’ orientations to the potential urgency of callers’ problems and how a triaging process was initiated. Overall, this study shows medical receptionists do skillful communicative work granting patient requests or progressing relevant courses of action in a clinically responsible way, thus delivering a valuable and unrecognized aspect of health care delivery.
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