Esther Lujan

9/17/17

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The Anatomy of Greys Discourse Communities

Doctors, as the professionals they are, apply specialized language to their respective

discourse communities. These communities would include their coworkers, friends, patients, and

partners. In the medical television show, Greys Anatomy, Dr. Meredith Grey is a character

that portrays the daily life of doctors and what obstacles they face. Dr. Meredith Grey practices

within these discourse communities as well. We see that she does show different mannerism

around certain types of people and shows different communication as well. The differences

between language and communication help define what discourse community she participates in.

An important aspect of a doctors career is the ability to work in a quick paced

environment. Dr. Greys co-workers must see that she is a professional doctor that executes each

procedure at a very high standard. Therefore Dr. Grey needs to be concise with her words, as

well as effective and clear. She also uses a different language with her coworkers such as

medical terms. An example of this type of communication would be telling Dr. Greys coworker

about a patients current condition to help diagnose him. More specifically, when Dr. Grey tells

her coworker His E.K.G. looks normal, no angina but his chest pains still persist. Dr. Grey

would be saying that this patient took an electrocardiogram and has no visible chest pain

according to his x-rays. This example shows that she uses medical abbreviations such as

E.K.G., medical terminology such as angina and does so in one sentence as to be concise.

When Dr. Meredith Grey is around her friends, she is more relaxed and even takes the

time to joke around with them. Dr. Christina Yang is one of Dr. Greys best friends and is a great

example for this. Dr. Grey is not afraid to speak what is in her mind with her, she shares

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thoughts, feelings and many details about her personal life. Dr. Yang reciprocates this type of

communication by doing the same with her. For example, there was a time when Dr. Yang was

going through a divorce and Dr. Meredith Grey always listened, gave advise and even tried to

cheer her up now and then. Before Dr. Grey got married with her husband, Dr. Shepard, she

would always discus intimate details to Dr. Christina Yang.

With her patients, she must attain that level of professionalism again and have an

empathetic touch. She must be caring to her patients and their needs. She must also keep in mind

that they might not know all the medical terms that she discusses about with the other doctors,

and so she must simplify her speech while talking to them. This would include when she tells

them their diagnosis, treatment, etc. She must also be able to exemplify this loyalty to her

patients so that in return, the patients can open up to her and be more comfortable with their

doctor. An example of this would be if she is about to tell her patient that they have strong

symptoms of Alzheimers disease she would need to be very comforting of her words. She would

need to give information in a way that is easy to understand. She would might even hold her

hand when talking to her in a comforting and respectful way.

With her husband Dr. Derek Shepard, she is more kind and caring to him. It is clear she

would not communicate the same way with her husband as her co-workers. To illustrate, she

would not be so affectionate to her Chief of Surgery as she would be with her husband. They are

always comfortable with each other and know they can count on each other for anything they

might need. They always show their affection when they can and even tell each other that they

love him/her.

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To summarize, Dr. Meredith Greys communication and attitude with her coworkers,

patients, friends and husband are examples of her discourse communities. Dr. Grey must be

compassionate while explaining information to her patient in simple terms that they know. On

the other hand, Dr. Grey must be professional while she is communicating with her coworkers

and use medical terms. However, when she is with her friends, she tends to easy-going and is

open to share details on her personal life. With her husband, she is much more affectionate and

often communicates to him with endearment.