Patient-centred care (PCC) has become a central principle in healthcare policy and a moral imperative against the problem of medical paternalism, emphasising patient autonomy, choice and shared decision-making, rather than “doctor always knows best”.
However, questions remain on how these ideals are to be realised in everyday healthcare practice and there is little consistent evidence that healthcare policy based on PCC improves patients’ health and well-being.
For this research forum, Professor Alison Pilnick shows how conversation analysis can be used to examine patient-centred care in practice.
Drawing on a large set of audio and video recordings from a wide range of healthcare settings, she argues that attempts to enact PCC have sidelined and problematized the medical expertise patients want and need.
While PCC rightly problematizes unrestrained medical authority, efforts to implement its ideals often leaves patients abandoned to make decisions they feel unqualified to make.
Moreover, she argues that conversation analysis provides important perspectives to discussions of healthcare policy and professional practice.
About the speaker
Alison Pilnick is Professor of Language, Health and Society at the Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom.
