Linguistic Aspects of Patient-centered Diagnosis and Therapeutic Communication

Data

Official data in SubjectManager for the following academic year: 2024-2025

Topic

The course prepares students for using linguistic-communicative strategies in patient-oriented and effective doctor-patient consultations. The course focuses on the diagnosis and therapy-related doctor-patient dialogues. Communicating a diagnosis and discussing therapy requires a code-switching between medical and everyday language use in medical communication. Speaking the patient's language takes practice and is essential for an effective therapeutic relationship between doctor and patient. The block course offers students in the higher semesters a synthesis and practical application of the acquired language-communicative skills and medical knowledge through simulated doctor-patient conversations with simulated patients.

Lectures

• 1.

  1.      Subjective illness theories in doctor-patient conversations

  - Hambuchné Kőhalmi Anikó
• 2.

  1.      Code-switching in diagnostic and therapeutic doctor-patient conversations. Medical multilingualism and the language of the patient.

  - Hambuchné Kőhalmi Anikó
• 3.

  1.      Interactional linguistic strategies in doctor-patient communication on diagnosis and therapy

  - Kránicz Rita Márta

Practices

Seminars

• 1.

  Conversations about the diagnosis and therapy of cardiovascular diseases (angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, high blood pressure, heart attack, varicose veins); active listening (open questions, paraphrasing, clarifying, summarising, reflecting)

  - Csaba Gergely József, Hambuchné Kőhalmi Anikó, Szántóné Csongor Alexandra, Egyed Csilla Klára
• 2.

  Conversations about the diagnosis and therapy of cardiovascular diseases (angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, high blood pressure, heart attack, varicose veins); active listening (open questions, paraphrasing, clarifying, summarising, reflecting)

  - Csaba Gergely József, Szántóné Csongor Alexandra, Egyed Csilla Klára, Sárkányné Lőrinc Anita
• 3.

  Conversations about the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases (COPD, bronchial asthma, carcinoma pulmonis, tuberculosis, emphysema); active listening: subjective illness theories of the patient, patient-centred information transfer (lay and medical language)

  - Csaba Gergely József, Szántóné Csongor Alexandra, Egyed Csilla Klára, Halász Renáta
• 4.

  Conversations about the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases (COPD, bronchial asthma, carcinoma pulmonis, tuberculosis, emphysema); active listening: subjective illness theories of the patient, patient-centred information transfer (lay and medical language)

  - Csaba Gergely József, Szántóné Csongor Alexandra, Egyed Csilla Klára, Kránicz Rita Márta
• 5.

  Conversations about the diagnosis and treatment of gastroenterological diseases (gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), peptic ulcer, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease); patient-centred information transfer, informed consent, acceptance, reassurance, achieving cooperation

  - Csaba Gergely József, Szántóné Csongor Alexandra, Egyed Csilla Klára
• 6.

  Conversations about the diagnosis and therapy of diseases of the blood and lymphatic system (thrombophilia, anaemia perniciosa, lymphomas, leukaemia acuta/chronica, haemophilia, mononucleosis); dialogue symmetry between doctor and patient during the consultation, shared decision-making.

  - Csaba Gergely József, Szántóné Csongor Alexandra, Egyed Csilla Klára
• 7.

  Evaluation: student diagnosis- and therapy-related consultation with a simulated patient

  - Csaba Gergely József, Szántóné Csongor Alexandra, Egyed Csilla Klára, Hambuchné Kőhalmi Anikó, Halász Renáta, Kránicz Rita Márta, Sárkányné Lőrinc Anita
• 8.

  Evaluation: student diagnosis- and therapy-related consultation with a simulated patient

  - Csaba Gergely József, Szántóné Csongor Alexandra, Egyed Csilla Klára, Hambuchné Kőhalmi Anikó, Halász Renáta, Kránicz Rita Márta, Sárkányné Lőrinc Anita
• 9.

  Feedback and reflections: case-based simulated consultations with simulated patients

  - Csaba Gergely József, Szántóné Csongor Alexandra, Egyed Csilla Klára, Hambuchné Kőhalmi Anikó, Halász Renáta, Kránicz Rita Márta, Sárkányné Lőrinc Anita

Reading material

Obligatory literature

Literature developed by the Department

video-based tasks

ppt presentations

authentic and anonymised findings and doctor's documents (laboratory findings, imaging procedures, discharge letters)

Notes

Recommended literature

Conditions for acceptance of the semester

Participation in the course is compulsory. The course instructor can accept an absence of more than 15% but less than 25% of the total hours. Absences of more than 25% of the total number of hours will not be recognised.

Mid-term exams

Based on the decision of the course instructor.

Making up for missed classes

Based on the decision of the course instructor.

Exam topics/questions

Practical examination: medical interview with a simulation patient. Assessment is based on the feedback from the simulated patient, the observers and the lecturers.

Examiners

Instructor / tutor of practices and seminars

• Csaba Gergely József
• Egyed Csilla Klára
• Halász Renáta
• Hambuchné Kőhalmi Anikó
• Kránicz Rita Márta
• Sárkányné Lőrinc Anita
• Szántóné Csongor Alexandra