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The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the computer in medical consultations in which English- Spanish-bilingual medical providers interact with Spanish-monolingual patients. Following previous studies that have revealed that the presence of the computer in consultations detracts from direct provider- patient communication, we pay specific attention to how the use of the computer in Spanishlanguage medical consultations can complement or adversely affect the co-construction of the patient's health narrative. The data for the present study consist of 36 Spanish-language medical consultations in Southern California. Applying a conversation analytical approach to the health narratives in the corpus, we argue that the computer is essentially a third interactant to which medical providers orient through lowered volume, minimal responses, bureaucratic side talk, and, most importantly, codeswitching to English - all of which strip the patients of control over the co-construction of their health narrative with their medical provider. Because the patient does not have access to the computational task and the language, we posit that this exacerbates the already existing adverse effects that the computer has on provider-patient interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Physical inactivity like recreational computer use is a likely factor in the rising obesity prevalence among Latino adolescents. Objectives Using the data from California Health Interview Survey, we test the hypothesis whether acculturation is associated with recreational computer use among Latino adolescents. Methods We run linear regressions of the weekly time spent on recreational computer use among Latino adolescents, stratified first by gender and then by age group (12-14 and 15-17 years). Years living in the United States and language at home are used as key variables for acculturation. Results For all four sub-populations, living in the United States for less than 5 years is significantly associated with fewer hours on recreational computer use, compared with those US-born. Among female adolescents, those who lived in the United States for 10 years or more spent fewer hours on recreational computer use than those US-born. Among adolescents under 15, speaking English only and speaking English plus another language are both significantly associated with more hours on recreational computer use, compared with those who speak a non-English language at home. Conclusion Educators and health professionals should heed the Latino adolescents' possible increase in recreational computer use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computerization of the medical record in various outpatient settings has been successful but for anesthesiologists, the preoperative visit differs significantly. This study implemented a computerized version of a structured preanesthetic evaluation questionnaire that we had previously developed and which provided a starting point for developing a suitable vocabulary and workflow. Using the computerized version, pre-anesthetic evaluations were performed on 26 obstetric patients over a 20-week period. The introduction of a computer into the physician-patient relationship did not disrupt the examination. It markedly reduced time-consuming tasks (such as dictation), captured far more detail than found in our previously dictated and handwritten notes and provided immediately available data for quality assurance activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]