This study explores emotional communication in registered nurse (RN)-led consultations in Swedishprimary care, as part of the PINPOINT project. In this setting, RNs often serve as the first point ofcontact, in parallel to general practitioners (GPs), for patients seeking help with new healthproblems, playing a key role in initial assessment, decision-making, and patient guidance.Previous findings from the PINPOINT project indicate that patients generally hold high expectationsfor communication and report positive experiences with RNs who mostly meet their expectations(Östensson et al., 2025). Preliminary results also suggest that RNs tend to follow a naturalconsultation structure when exploring patients’ health problems. However, essential componentssuch as eliciting medical concerns, exploring social history, and confirming patient understandingare sometimes omitted (manuscript).The current study investigates whether and how patients’ emotional concerns, expressed throughnegative emotional cues or explicit concerns, are addressed during RN-led consultations in primarycare.Data were collected from 148 routine RN-led consultations across 10 primary care centers, involving30 RNs and 148 patients. Emotional communication was analyzed using the Verona CodingDefinitions of Emotional Sequences (VR-CoDES).

Research questions:

• What emotional cues and concerns do patients express during consultations, and what aspects ofcare do these relate to (e.g., current health problems, treatment, self-care, referrals)?

• How do RNs respond to or address these cues and concerns?

• Do RNs tailor their responses to patients’ emotional cues and concerns or follow a standardizedresponse pattern?

We aim to discuss both our research questions and the planned analysis for the study