Neurological Examination in Telemedical Consultations in Stroke Diagnosis. Multimodal Practices of Computer-Mediated Collaboration

Abstract

Over the past years, the importance of telemedicine has increased considerably for patient care, also in Germany. In the case of acute neurological symptoms, telemedical consultations between rural clinics and expert neurologists in medical centres may shorten the door-to-needle time and contribute to a suitable treatment decision. Using methods of multimodal conversation analysis, we examine the interplay of talking, examining, and professional perceiving in a triadic face-to-screen and face-to-screen constellation of telemedical stroke consultations. The multimodal and multimedia practices used by the participants within the collaborative engagement in neurological testing are the central issues of the current study.