Based on reflections on the film Anomalisa and Foucault's concept of biopower, this essay discusses the limits of teaching clinical communication skills in medical training. Communication with patients is not… Click to show full abstract
Based on reflections on the film Anomalisa and Foucault's concept of biopower, this essay discusses the limits of teaching clinical communication skills in medical training. Communication with patients is not related to the use (or lack thereof) of certain phrases or a given conversational style, but involves the search for a way of interacting with the other in the midst of the world's disorder, the overwhelming wave of suffering, and the frightening lapse of time between life and death. In this scenario featuring biotechnoscience and the reign of scientific evidence, beyond protocols or standardized ways of practicing medicine, the proposal here is for a debate on teaching communication with an emphasis on the production of subjectivities, in order to issue a call for reflection on desirable values for action in the health field.
               
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