Deferring the Decision Point: Treatment Assertions in Neurology Outpatient Consultations

Area of Science:

• Medical Communication
• Linguistics
• Neurology

Background:

• Understanding how medical information is conveyed in consultations is crucial for effective patient care.
• Previous research has focused on explicit recommendations, but implied recommendations remain under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze how neurologists imply treatment recommendations in UK consultations.
• To investigate how patients interpret these implied recommendations.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of recorded UK neurology consultations.
• Focus on assertions about treatment benefits and their interactional functions.

Main Results:

• Assertions about treatment benefits are often interpreted by patients as "merely" informing.
• The ambiguous design of assertions allows them to be both informative and implicitly recommendatory.
• Patients perceive these assertions as relevant to their condition, influencing decision-making.

Conclusions:

• Neurologists use ambiguous assertions to imply recommendations without direct instruction.
• This communication strategy respects patient autonomy while guiding decision-making.
• Implied recommendations function to indicate solutions, respect patient choice, and offer cautious advice.