A methodologic framework to study nurse-patient communication.

Communicative interaction patterns among nurses and patients in a complex hospital setting were examined, using the methodologic framework, synchronology. Extensive videotaped time-series data of patient-health care personnel interactions, involving four patients admitted for elective surgery, were collected approximately 16 hours a day from admission to discharge and computerized in both mnemonic word form and numeric files. These interactional data were instrumental in the methodologic development. Communicative interaction is conceptualized as a dynamic, ongoing behavior process which can be studied by identifying the observed effects of presenting behaviors on the participants. The process is complex, contex-related, and multivariate in nature. Synchronology provides a structure for in-context description and analysis of the complex verbal and nonverbal interaction patterns, preservation of multivariate data, and identification of key concepts in human interaction which are of use in education, practice, and research.