From a medical consultation to a written text:1. Transcribing the doctor-patient dialogue

OBJECTIVE: To present a method for transcribing the doctor-patient dialogue reflecting the interactional processes of the consultation. DESIGN: Audiotape recording followed by transcription of one selected consultation from a Norwegian general practice. Analysis of the discourse according to pragmatic and textlinguistic principles. MAIN OUTCOME: Doctor-patient interaction made visible by the transcript. CONCLUSION: From a biomedical point of view, in many GP consultations, very little happens apart from the doctor-patient dialogue. On the doctor-patient interactional level, however, very much may happen. To grasp these events in an appropriate way, a biomedical way of thinking must be supplied by a linguistic-pragmatic one.