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Inclusive intake screening: shaping medical problems into specialist-appropriate cases.
- Source :
-
Sociology of Health & Illness . May2004, Vol. 26 Issue 4, p385-410. 26p. - Publication Year :
- 2004
-
Abstract
- This paper examines medical intake screening through the process of making appointments with medical specialists. By employing a multi-method, qualitative approach, it shows how decisions to schedule doctors' appointments are based on medical knowledge about physicians' specialties and specific organisational practices. It draws on insights from first-contact interactions between clients and institutional gatekeepers to enrich our understanding of intake screening. In relation to gatekeeping, rationing commonly gets framed as restrictive screening practices, with a preference for denying or limiting access to treatment. Restrictive screening practices are typically organised to elicit a narrow range of information ('facts') relevant to specific eligibility criteria; whereas inclusive intake screening tends to involve less scripted, more complex and open-ended interactional exchanges between workers and clients, wherein workers help clients frame their claims in ways that will increase their chances of getting accepted. Front-office workers hold a preference for inclusive intake screening, a preference that is undergirded by the referral-driven nature of this stage of patient processing, and by a work environment that favours inclusive screening. This finding builds on the literature within medical sociology, but also extends our understanding of frontline decision-making and the distribution of resources within a variety of people-processing institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 01419889
- Volume :
- 26
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Sociology of Health & Illness
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 106781804
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0141-9889.2004.00396.x