Professor Paul Crawford



Shapes and transforms
the world, establishes
who we are, and who
others are in relation to
us
Is the dominant activity
in health care delivery
as care
Fatalities
 Poor compliance
 Patient
dissatisfaction
 Poor outcomes
 Litigation

© Nelson Thornes 2006





Brevity in health care
interventions remains a high
priority
‘High speed society’
‘social acceleration’
(Rosa & Scheurman, 2008)
‘Blip Culture’
(Alvin Toffler, 1981)

Practitioner time has often to be parcelled out
sparingly (Deacon & Fairhurst, 2008)




‘You know it’s very much like a
conveyer belt’
‘turnover is very quick’
‘you haven’t got enough time
between patients to process’
‘it’s a very quick turnaround’
From: Talking cleanliness in health and
agriculture. RES-000-22-2289.

Decompressing time and
space (Menzies 2005)


Counselling based
Durative (‘time-greedy’)
◦ Brief
◦ Ordinary
◦ Effective
The Tardis Effect (Brown et al, 2006)
© Copyright BBC
Brief interactions
can be bigger
‘inside’ than they
appear from the
‘outside’
Be ordinary
Be extraordinary
Text © Paul Crawford 2006; Image © Imogen Gray 2007

contributes to achieving good clinical outcomes

driven by evidence-based practice and practicebased evidence

promotes patient satisfaction

sustained by policy, organisational (e.g. higher
education and health services) and practitioner
commitment



Development of 30 Core Skills
Informed Chief Nursing Officer’s Review of Mental Health Nursing
(Department of Health, 2006)
Described and theorised in:
Brown et al (2006); Crawford et al (2006); Crawford & Brown
(2009); Crawford & Brown (2010)


Evidence based health communication
New advances in researching communicative
practice in healthcare
‘opening the gateway for
career progression...
providing understanding and
knowledge about how
individuals communicate...
Tutor support was the best I
have ever received’
2010 graduate
Email:
english-postgrad@nottingham.ac.uk
paul.crawford@nottingham.ac.uk








Brown, B., Crawford, P. & Carter, R. (2006) Evidence-based Health Communication.
Open University Press: Maidenhead.
Crawford, P. & Brown, B. (2010) Fast healthcare: Brief communication, traps and
opportunities. Patient Education & Counselling. Available online: DOI:
10.1016/j.pec.2010.02.016.
Crawford, P. & Brown, B. (2009) Communication. In Mallik, M., Hall, C. & Howard,
D. Nursing Knowledge and Practice: Foundations for Decision Making. 3rd ed.
Balliere Tindall and the Royal College of Nursing: London.
Crawford, P., Brown, B & Bonham, P. (2006) Communication in Clinical Settings.
Nelson Thornes: Cheltenham
Deacon, M. & Fairhurst, E. (2008) The real-life practice of acute inpatient mental
health nurses: an analysis of `eight interrelated bundles of activity', Nursing
Inquiry 15 (4): 330-340.
Menzies, H. (2005) No Time: Stress and the Crisis of Modern Life. Douglas &
Macintyre: Vancouver.
Rosa, H. & Scheuerman, W.E. (2009) High-Speed Society: Social Acceleration,
Power, and Modernity . Pennsylvania State University Press: University Park, PA.
Toffler, A. (1981) The Third Wave. Bantam Books: London.