[Intercultural communication in general practice].

What is the reason for possible communication problems between physicians and immigrants from the third world? How is the interaction between the two groups regulated? To answer such questions, 15 doctors and 10 immigrants were interviewed about their experience of the doctor-patient interaction in unstructured open-ended interviews. Culturally based verbal and non-verbal expressions were particularly difficult to interpret, being based on different thought models and language. Owing to the world wide generalisation of the doctor-patient roles the gap between the two "partners" in the communication has been to some extent bridged. Largely independent of the doctors' will, the immigrants assigned considerable authority to the doctors. Thus the power of the doctor is based on the institutionalisation of the more universal doctor-patient role.