Eighteen conversations between patients and nurses or physicians were videotaped to examine patterns that the interactants followed to maintain dominant or recessive roles. Physicians/nurses were viewed as the dominant interactants because of their greater control in the hospital setting whereas patients were viewed as the recessive interactants because of their lesser control and their dependence on others for resources necessary in the recovery process. Analysis of the conversations resulted in the following rules implicit in the relationship between a patient and a nurse or physician: (1) nurses/physicians talk first; (2) nurses/physicians select the first topic in the first utterance; (3) nurses/physicians ask questions, the recessive interactant answers questions; (4) when the nurse/physician asks about a topic, the patient is obliged to pursue the topic; (5) topics in dominant-recessive interactions have to do with personal information regarding the patient; (6) when the patient has answered the question, the nurse/physician can then ask the same or similar question; (7) the nurse/physician may ask a question and without waiting for a reply may ask a second question; (8) the nurse/physician may verbally evaluate or revise the answer or response of the patient in the next turn; (9) the nurse/physician proposes membership categories that are accepted by the patient; (10) the nurse/physician manages the timing of the episode by using bracket markers; (11) the nurse/physician may interrupt the patient's talk before a transition-relevance cue occurs; and (12) the nurse/physician initiates the closing of the episode. These rules demonstrate that patients do not control their own time and space in interactions with physicians and nurses. (HOD)