Structure and texture in historical medical records

Professional accounting practices concerning loss of life

Authors

  • Julie Feilberg Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
  • Srikant Sarangi Aalborg University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.30601

Keywords:

account analysis, child patients, loss of life, narrative/rhetoric, patient records, structure and texture

Abstract

Although the forms and functions of medical records – also called patient records – have long been a topic of research, there are few longitudinal and historical studies of examples pre-dating their modern form. In this paper we examine a set of records from a medical journal of an immigrant ship in the nineteenth century as a case study. Our focus is on the structure and texture of a selected sample of child patient records. The framework is theme-oriented discourse analysis, especially account analysis, as we characterise the surgeon superintendent’s accounting practices with regard to entries involving child patients (n = 28), comprising ‘cure’ and ‘loss of life’ scenarios. The findings, based on a selective corpus of seven cases, demonstrate that entries in the ‘loss of life’ cases, as opposed to the straightforward ‘cure’ cases, not only retain a loose structure but also display a ‘subjective experiential’ texture, contrary to the findings of many studies which report the prevalence of objective, technical language characteristic of contemporary patient records. We suggest that the narrative structure and rhetorical texture of the entries index the institutional function of the patient record, even beyond healthcare delivery concerning the individual patient.

Author Biographies

  • Julie Feilberg, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

    Julie Feilberg is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Language and Literature at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. Her research interests are institutional and professional discourse studies, particularly within health care/interaction, and speech and language disorders.

  • Srikant Sarangi, Aalborg University

    Srikant Sarangi is currently Professor in Humanities and Medicine and Director of the Danish Institute of Humanities and Medicine (DIHM) at Aalborg University, Denmark. He is also Professor II at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, while continuing as Honorary Professor at Cardiff University. His research interests are in institutional/professional discourse studies (e.g., healthcare, social work, bureaucracy, education) and applied linguistics. He is editor of Text & Talk, Communication & Medicine and Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice.

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Published

2018-04-30

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Feilberg, J., & Sarangi, S. (2018). Structure and texture in historical medical records: Professional accounting practices concerning loss of life. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice, 11(1), 23-49. https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.30601

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