This special issue identifies three interrelated constructs--discourse, expertise, and the definition and management of risk--located in various healthcare sites: genetic counseling, nursing, and medical practice. The papers highlight the relationship between the management of risk situations and the nature of expertise displayed or achieved by practitioners and their patients/clients. The papers suggest that healthcare outcomes can be related closely to the quality of the discoursal encounters between professional practitioners and their patients/clients, and/or among professional...

Communication and Professional Relationships in Healthcare Practice focuses on the crucial role that spoken interactions play in shaping relationships in contemporary healthcare practice. The authors apply theoretical concepts of communication to the workplace of healthcare, drawing upon scenarios based in the settings of clinical experience.