ABSTRACT
This chapter reports a study that examined the nature of doctor-patient interaction in the context of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) communication in the primary care setting. TCM practice has a long history of providing a holistic view of understanding patients’ physical, psychological, as well as emotional needs, in order to provide care and services that are patient-orientated. In fact, the establishment of doctor–patient rapport is found to be unique in TCM practices. By providing a detailed linguistic analysis of naturally occurring conversations between TCM doctors and their patients in ten diagnostic interviews, this chapter describes the nature and the communicative style of doctor–patient encounters in TCM consultations and explores the typical discoursal stages involved in these interactions. A range of linguistic features that TCM practitioners use to deliver patient-centred care and shape a joint decision-making process were identified as leading to better patient understanding and compliance with doctors’ treatment regimens.
