The surgeon-patient relation. 'I don't like chit-chat'

This paper analyses how the professional socialization of the surgical profession generates practices and strongly structures a specific relationship with patients. Surgeons tend not to be attracted by the relational aspect of their practice, and express not particularly liking their encounters with patients, even when they sometimes have real competences in that field. The paper also underlines the gap between surgeons' professional rhetoric and their actual practices. Far from suspecting surgeons of lying when they say they 'love the relationship with patients', one needs to qualify the kind of relation they actually like and describe. They like a 'smooth' relation, one where 'things make good progress', where there are no clashes, or adjustment needed on behalf of the surgeon. Adapted from the source document.