title: The rhetorical 'turn' in medical education: what have we learned and where are we going?
abstract: This paper presents a critical reflection on the contributions and challenges associated with one rhetorical approach to studying teaching and learning communication in health professions education. A rhetorical approach treats language as a social act, and attends to the role of language in establishing professional identities and relationships. The research has produced insights into the use of standard communication formats to teach novices, the nature of socialization on clinical teams, and the relationship between communication patterns and patient safety. Challenges and emerging questions include the problem of accounting for the material dimensions of communication in a rhetorical model, grappling with the complexities of distributed teams, and difficulties bridging the epistemologies of rhetoric and psychometrics.
authors.affiliation: Wilson Centre for Research in Education and Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, 200 Elizabeth Street, Eaton South 1-565 Toronto, ON, Canada, M5G 2C4, lorelei.lingard@utoronto.ca
authors.forename: Lorelei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lingard
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D004517:Education, Professional / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D010348:Patient Care Team; D012106:Research; D012951:Socialization