Uma categorização analítica para estudo e comparação de práticas clínicas em distintas racionalidades médicas.

This article presents an analytical categorization of clinical encounters for comparative equidistant investigations of clinical practice in different medical systems. This categorization was conceived as an ideal Weberian type, guided by Levi-Strauss's dynamics of symbolic effectiveness. We conceptualized six constituent movements of clinical encounters: (1) user's acceptance; (2) demand listening; (3) problem investigation; (4) diagnosis elaboration and interpretation; (5) socialization of interpretation; and (6) therapy elaboration, agreement and implementation. These constituent movements can be associated with Madel Luz's medical rationality dimensions (cosmology, doctrine, physiology, morphology, diagnostic and therapeutic systems), allowing the description, analysis and comparison of various clinical practices, guided by one or more medical rationalities. Therefore, this analytical instrument could facilitate the investigation and understanding of clinical practices within different medical systems, contributing to both comparability of different medical practices and to its general effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]