We are definitely not amused

doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7370.919/a

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Roger Dobson

Abergavenny

Family doctors are far more likely to use “we” than patients, who are far more likely to use “I” during consultations, researchers have shown, in what is believed to be the first in depth study of pronoun use by doctors and patients.

A team from the Department of General Practice at Birmingham University analysed audiotapes of 375 consultations at 21 practices in the West Midlands for use of first person pronouns (Family Practice 2002;19:484-8)

They found that the average number of words spoken at …