Fysioterapeuten (Sep 2007)
Fysioterapeuters journaler - en undersøkelse av språkbruk
Abstract
The background for the study is the lack of systematic knowledge on physiotherapists records. The article presents major findings of an hermeneutically inspired analysis of language use in physiotherapists' records in a Norwegian hospital. The text material is collected from three wards in a somatic hospital and consists of 67 records. Nine therapists participated. They were all trained in Norway, they ranged in age from 25 to 46, and seven of them were women. The study documents pronounced differences at the ward level, and the material as a whole displays disparate knowledge traditions and a combination of professional terminology and daily language. In the records from neurological and partly from rheumatological ward the sentence content is linked by linguistic means so that assessments of patients' function are made apparent. In these texts both patient and therapist are presented as active participants. In the texts from orthopaedics and rheumatological ward the linguistic connections are fewer and the evaluative aspects of physiotherapy are almost absent. The authorial voice is weak, and the patients are not presented with any clarity in these texts. It is underscored that charting has become more important due to new legislation, and that it is a challenge to write records in ways that clarify the contributions of physiotherapists with respect to understanding and treating patients' health problems. In this context the use of language plays a crucial role.
