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Interactional accomplishments between nurses and doctors in a medical context

Includes bibliographical references

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Main Author: De Nobrega, Nicia
Other Authors: Foster, Don
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Psychology 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author De Nobrega, Nicia
author2 Foster, Don
author_browse De Nobrega, Nicia
Foster, Don
author_facet Foster, Don
De Nobrega, Nicia
author_sort De Nobrega, Nicia
collection Thesis
description Includes bibliographical references
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10398
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:47:15.767Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Department of Psychology
publisherStr Department of Psychology
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10398 Interactional accomplishments between nurses and doctors in a medical context De Nobrega, Nicia Foster, Don Psychological Research Includes bibliographical references The use of language is significant in co-constructing reality. This highlights the way that speakers relate to each other through talk with the available discursive positionings in a specific context. An institutional context with particular asymmetrical relations introduces how the construction of reality is an area accessible to explore the use of language in maintaining and creating power relations. This research study explores institutional talk through conversation analysis. The focus is on asymmetrical working relations in medical settings. This considers the implications on individuals with a differentiating status with how power is managed in conversations. Nurses and doctors represent asymmetrical relations and their conversations illustrate differences in the way that language creates reality in a medical context, in this case a public teaching hospital in South Africa. Nurses and doctors were recorded during ward rounds, which spanned 22 hours of audio recordings. Approximately 40 ward rounds were followed where both a doctor and nurse were present. Ward rounds provided an opportunity to capture nurse-doctor conversations. The recordings were supplemented by ethnographic data that focused on the management of power. This focus is both at an individual interactional level and at a broader institutional level. Thus, showing how language coincides with the predominant subject positions available in a medical institution. The findings show how doctors do power overtly through various ways of speaking which show leadership in interactions. The findings also show how a doctor's subjectivity relates to qualities that continually build superiority in interactions. Nurses, on the other hand, manage power indirectly, by negotiating agency while enacting a passive actor role in conversations. Both doctors and nurses manage power and assertiveness, but continually show the sensitivity embedded in orienting themselves to one another. This aids in showing speaker support and is especially important for nurses, who are in a lower status, for managing their position in relation to doctors. 2014-12-28T14:59:41Z 2014-12-28T14:59:41Z 2010 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10398 eng application/pdf Department of Psychology Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Psychological Research
De Nobrega, Nicia
Interactional accomplishments between nurses and doctors in a medical context
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Interactional accomplishments between nurses and doctors in a medical context
title_full Interactional accomplishments between nurses and doctors in a medical context
title_fullStr Interactional accomplishments between nurses and doctors in a medical context
title_full_unstemmed Interactional accomplishments between nurses and doctors in a medical context
title_short Interactional accomplishments between nurses and doctors in a medical context
title_sort interactional accomplishments between nurses and doctors in a medical context
topic Psychological Research
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10398
work_keys_str_mv AT denobreganicia interactionalaccomplishmentsbetweennursesanddoctorsinamedicalcontext