Ricerc@Sapienza

In this paper we examine how doctor and patient coordinate actions in interaction towards the smooth accomplishment of the medical visit. Such coordination entails primarily the management of time and praxis, i.e.

This paper examines a previously neglected phenomenon in doctor-patient interaction studies, i.e. the achievement of mutual disengagement—a specific state of coordination, in which participants suspend reciprocal gaze and turn into separate axes of involvement. In the specialized setting of the oncology visit, which we consider in this study, mutual disengagement is linked to important tasks that the oncologist has to carry out, notably the scrutiny of the histological exam during the diagnostic assessment phase.
Methods