Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe and to analyze real communication about a patient's discomfort between a patient with cancer and a nurse. Method: A dialogue analysis method was utilized. Fifteen patients and 4 nurses who participate ...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe and to analyze real communication about a patient's discomfort between a patient with cancer and a nurse. Method: A dialogue analysis method was utilized. Fifteen patients and 4 nurses who participated in this research gave permission to be videotaped. The data was collected from January, 3 to February 28, 2006. Results: The communication process consisted of 4 functional stages: ‘introduction stage’, ‘assessment stage’, ‘intervention stage’ and ‘final stage’. After trying to analyze pattern reconstruction in the ‘assessment stage’ and ‘intervention stage’, sequential patterns were identified. In the assessment stage, if the nurse lead the communication, the sequential pattern was ‘assessment question-answer’ and if the patient lead the communication, it was ‘complaint-response’. In the intervention stage, the sequential pattern was ‘nursing intervention-acceptance’. Conclusion: This research suggests conversation patterns between patients with cancer and nurses. Therefore, this study will provide insight for nurses in cancer units by better understanding communication behaviors.