The effect of pain on interaction in consultation settings

Along with observable signs and various forms of testing and imaging, patient description of symptoms forms a core part of the diagnostic process. This includes the symptom of pain. As pain is a subjective experience, clinicians primarily rely on patients’ descriptions of their pain to determine its severity. Hence adequate provision of treatment requires effective communication between patients and clinicians. Approaches to the communication of pain have identified that self-reporting and nonverbal cues are primary means of pain expression (Craig, Versloot, Goubert, Vervoort, & Crombez, 2010). However, the interactional features of talk from those in pain have been little explored. Through describing the interactional features of the talk of patients presenting with pain, we can begin to understand the relationship between the way in which patients interact when in pain and the severity of that pain