ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors examine both a different setting and a different professional group. They consider the possible justifications for looking at medical interviews in educational terms; the particular characteristics of medical work in child health clinics; some problems in medical interviews on which educationalists might have useful help to give; and the limitations of educational advice. In the course of this discussion the authors make use of empirical evidence from audio-visual recordings of child health clinic interviews. It was argued that there was a case for investigating these child health clinic interviews from an educational perspective, because mothers could reasonably be hoping to learn something at the clinic. The authors argue that an educational perspective is not always justified; that one cannot always find problems amenable to educational solutions.
