Structure and dynamics of communicative interaction between a potential patient and a doctor during written medical Internet consultation

Abstract

Due to the increased pace of digitalization in all areas of life, including medicine, more citizens can receive qualified medical care. The period of the СOVID-2019 pandemic has clearly demonstrated that telemedicine is becoming a relevant area of medical practice. In particular, the role of online consultation in medical communication is significantly increasing. In this regard, medical network discourse becomes the focus of scholarly interest. Our research is aimed at verifying the scenario of medical consultations on medical online forums. The research material includes 5259 messages in Russian from 2018-2023 as part of 60 medical consultations on cardiology on rusmedserv Internet forum. The empirical study design included the collection and structuring of research material by means of corpus methods; the data were described, systematized and generalized; the qualitative interpretation of the data was carried out on the basis of the communicative and pragmatic method of analysis developed by Issers (2008). It was found that the dynamics and structure of medical consultations are generally maintained while a doctor and a potential patient are interacting through an Internet forum. The obtained data also confirm the findings presented in academic literature on “doctor - patient” communication via Internet forums. The results of the research contribute to the understanding of written medical Internet consultation proving that it unfolds inconsistently, but recurrently; the communication innovations mainly relate to the dynamics of communication scenario during medical Internet consultation deployment. The obtained results may contribute to the development of a more effective “patient - doctor” communication model focused on the mission of telemedicine.