Conversation is an important part of everyday life and is increasingly recognized as being critical to the success of practice change initiatives in the health care environment. However, conversation is becoming something of a lost art and it is important that we consciously 'create the space' to have constructive, meaningful and inclusive conversations in and around health practices. This article explores the importance of conversation to organizational functioning, and the potential for practice development to facilitate meaningful conversations around clinical practice and practice change. It also discusses a form of conversation called futurefocused conversation as one approach to assist cultural evolution in health environments. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Conversation; Culture; Discourse; Practice development
Research Division:	Medical and Health Sciences
Research Group:	Clinical Sciences
Research Field:	Clinical Sciences not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Other Health
Objective Field:	Health not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Walsh, K (Professor Kenneth Walsh)
ID Code:	92277
Year Published:	2009
Deposited By:	Health Sciences B
Deposited On:	2014-06-12
Last Modified:	2014-11-10
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