Nurse Practitioners and the Performance of Professional Competency

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Staci Defibaugh

   Pages 1-25

3. Frontstage/Backstage: Attending to Organizational Responsibilities

   • Staci Defibaugh

   Pages 27-51

4. Need to Know: Patient Education and Epistemic Responsibility

   • Staci Defibaugh

   Pages 53-77

5. Treading Lightly: Indirect Speech in Medical Directives

   • Staci Defibaugh

   Pages 79-99

6. Caring as Competent: Small Talk in Medical Visits

   • Staci Defibaugh

   Pages 101-120

7. Conclusion

   • Staci Defibaugh

   Pages 121-129

8. Erratum to: Nurse Practitioners and the Performance of Professional Competency: Accomplishing Patient-centered Care

   • Staci Defibaugh

   Pages E1-E1

9. Back Matter

   Pages 131-133

   PDF

This book examines the interactional practices of nurse practitioners (NPs) and the delivery of health care in the US. The author takes a discourse analytic approach, examining the linguistic resources that NPs employ in their interactions with patients. These linguistic features are connected to the concept of professional competency with specific focus on the enactment of the patient-centered approach. Analytic focus is placed on how NPs address organizational responsibilities during medical visits with patients, the form and function of patient education, the use of indirect speech, and the role that small talk plays in health care encounters. The book explores the understudied professional field of nurse practitioners and examines their linguistic practices with an eye on crossing disciplinary boundaries, integrating research from linguistics, discourse analysis and health communication. It will appeal to those interested in medical discourse analysis and health communication, as well as applied linguistics scholars.

• Medical discourse
• Nurse practitioners
• Physician Assistants
• health communication
• interactional practices
• provider-patient relationships
• patient-centered care
• professional competency
• health outcomes
• medical checklist
• epistemic access healthcare
• healthcare visits
• discourse analysis
• healthcare discourse
• inpatient and outpatient visits
• healthcare delivery
• professional communication
• linguistic performance

“This is a unique book that focuses on the language and interactional practices of nurse practitioners in the current U.S. healthcare setting. This novel resource intends to move forward the area of linguistic research that to date has focused primarily on physician‐patient communications.” (Kathleen M. Woodruff, Doody's Book Reviews, June 28, 2019) “Nurse Practitioners and the Performance of Professional Competency: Accomplishing Patient-Centered Care is a well-researched, linguistically nuanced and clearly written exploration of practically relevant discursive practices in clinical interactions between nurse practitioners and their patients.  Staci Defibaugh's volume on the crucial interrelationships between language use and the enactment of professional competency in this under-researched profession will be a welcome addition to the library of students, researchers, and healthcare professionals alike.” (Heidi E. Hamilton, Department of Linguistics at Georgetown University, USA)“Dr. Defibaugh has given us a highly useful addition to the provider-patient realm of health communication scholarship. With strong theoretical foundations, this work reveals the techniques providers deploy that help patients preserve their autonomy and also accomplish the professional goals of the provider. Clearly written, this is an easy read thatis also powerful, intriguing and will be a valuable resource to many.” (Marian Huhman, Department of Communication at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA)

• English, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA

  Staci Defibaugh

Staci Defibaugh is an Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics in the English Department at Old Dominion University, USA. Her research examines the interactional practices of nurse practitioner-patient visits, the role of neoliberalism in healthcare in the US, and the positioning of patients as being responsible for their health.

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