Commonly referred to as druggists and/or chemists, pharmacists are healthcare professionals who play an important role in effective and safe medication usage. Their principal duty encompasses understanding the mechanism of action of several drugs, their actions, side effects, therapeutic roles, potential contraindications, and patient monitoring parameters (American College of Clinical Pharmacy, 2014). Every day pharmacists encounter the daunting challenge of effectively communicating with physicians, patients, office staff, and employees, while being under pressure. This essay will discuss professional communication skills, in relation to optimal patient care by pharmacists.
Professional communication is an umbrella term that comprises of visual, oral, written, and digital communication that occurs within a workplace. The particular discipline is based on a plethora of pedagogical principles that include software, learning theory, and rhetoric technology (Arnold & Boggs, 2015). Communication skills are considered imperative for a particular business owing to the fact that all forms of work practices encompass reading, writing, speaking, software applications listening, internet research, and computer usage. There is mounting evidence for the fact that poor communication results in several problems in a work domain and acts as an impediment to the flow of decisions, opinions, advice, and ideas, thereby preventing the employees from accomplishing their intended target (Wagner, Bezuidenhout & Roos, 2015). In other words, any form of written or spoken interaction that helps an individual to represent himself to his receivers, represents professional communication. Some common professional documents that are used by pharmacists include short reports, case studies, laboratory reports, proposals, interim reports, and website based electronic delivery (Bhatia & Bremner, 2014). Therefore, due attention must be placed on accuracy of information, perspective, and desired outcome. Furthermore, the communication is expected to be concise and to the point.
Another major aspect of professional communication, within the domain of professionalism is realted to the fact that information presented must be devoid of any kind of ambiguity (DiSanza & Legge, 2016). Thus, it is expected from a professional communicator to remain conscious of the objective of statement, while delivering specific messages. It is a well-known fact that dealing with numerous issues has the possibility of creating confusion and chaos, which in turn acts as a potential threat to sound management. In addition, when it comes to the domain of professional communication, stakeholders in any organization, regardless of the organisation size, report diverse needs, desires, and interest. Therefore, pharmacists must be able to tailor communication needs according to the specific demands of the patients who are target audience.
Taking into account the fact that professionalism pays at the workplace, it is imperative to integrate the concept of professionalism and professional communication in the job domain of pharmacists. According to Olsson et al. (2014) one major approach for accomplishing the same is to show adherence to all rules and expectations for the job profile of a pharmacist. Even though healthcare professionals are present to supervise the work of a pharmacist, display of necessary self-management skills will help the pharmacists to work independently, while focusing on their communication with their audience. Personal responsibility has also been identified crucial for success in any professional domain (Bergman et al., 2016). This calls for the need of pharmacists to display adequate levels of commitment towards the changes that they intend to bring about in the area of safe and effective medicine. Instilling a sense of personal responsibility among the pharmacists will also help them gain complete control over their actions, which in turn will help them successfully communicate. There is mounting evidence for the fact that perception of patients regarding the quality of healthcare services that are delivered to them are largely dependent on the pattern of interactions with the clinicians (Roche & Kelliher, 2014). Hence, integrating professional communication in the job role of a pharmacist will also require the latter to establish a connection with the patients, by displaying a willingness to offer help to the presenting complaints by administering the recommended medications. This will prove beneficial in improving patient health, through adherence to the pharmacist recommended treatment, and by encouraging self-management (Antunes, Gomes & Cavaco, 2015).
The World Health Organisation has identified pharmacists to play a crucial part in preparing future pharmacists by adorning the role of a communicator (WHO, 2019). Owing to the fact that the role of pharmacists has been increasing in a patient-centred manner, thus making communication a vital component of their daily practice, good professional communication is imperative. Another way of integrating professional communications is by adjusting the tone and vocabulary, to allow the patients to process accurate information that is being communicated (Luetsch & Rowett, 2015). Avoiding use of medical jargons will also allow patients to gain a sound understanding of the potential benefits and risks of the medications that have been prescribed. Understanding the disease experience of the patients, while treating them with respect, dignity and compassion is an essential aspect of patient-centred care. Optimal patient outcomes can also be attained if the patients are empowered to make informed decisions and choices about their treatment and care. Development of a partnership with the patients will also encompass recognising the perceptual values, biases and assumptions of the pharmacists, which in turn will enhance patient outcomes (Liaw et al., 2014). Although communication forms a crucial aspect of professionalism, misunderstanding might arise when the pharmacists display lack of emotions, semantics, attention and active listening. Murad, Chatterley and Guirguis (2014) opined that usage of prompts, open-ended questions and probing the patients will help the pharmacists to clarify the meanings of the medication information that is being conveyed. Optimal patient outcome can also be reached if pharmacists allow the patients to voice their apprehensions and concerns over medicine usage, throughout the encounter, followed by maintaining transparency while resolving the issues. In addition, the pharmacists must also practice paraphrasing and summarising what had been stated, in order to eliminate chances of potential misunderstanding.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that since the level of understanding, educational background, and learning modes vary among patients, pharmacists have to often participate in hurried interactions that leave the receivers confused. Displaying skills of professional communication will help pharmacists in conducting complex activities such as, executing medicine reviews and inspiring patients to show compliance to medicines. Pharmacists need outstanding communication skills for informing patients, assessing their understanding, eliciting their objectives and helping them illuminate their preferences. Adoption of a tailored approach will also help the pharmacists provide necessary support to the patients for making better treatment selection, which in turn will result in successful patient outcomes.
References
American College of Clinical Pharmacy. (2014). Standards of practice for clinical pharmacists. Pharmacotherapy: The Journal of Human Pharmacology and Drug Therapy, 34(8), 794-797.
Antunes, L. P., Gomes, J. J., & Cavaco, A. M. (2015). How pharmacist–patient communication determines pharmacy loyalty? Modeling relevant factors. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 11(4), 560-570.
Arnold, E. C., & Boggs, K. U. (2015). Interpersonal relationships: Professional communication skills for nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Bergman, A. A., Jaynes, H. A., Gonzalvo, J. D., Hudmon, K. S., Frankel, R. M., Kobylinski, A. L., & Zillich, A. J. (2016). Pharmaceutical role expansion and developments in pharmacist-physician communication. Health communication, 31(2), 161-170.
Bhatia, V., & Bremner, S. (Eds.). (2014). The Routledge handbook of language and professional communication. Routledge.
DiSanza, J. R., & Legge, N. J. (2016). Business and professional communication: Plans, processes, and performance. Pearson.
Liaw, S. Y., Zhou, W. T., Lau, T. C., Siau, C., & Chan, S. W. C. (2014). An interprofessional communication training using simulation to enhance safe care for a deteriorating patient. Nurse Education Today, 34(2), 259-264.
Luetsch, K., & Rowett, D. (2015). Interprofessional communication training: benefits to practicing pharmacists. International journal of clinical pharmacy, 37(5), 857-864.
Murad, M. S., Chatterley, T., & Guirguis, L. M. (2014). A meta-narrative review of recorded patient–pharmacist interactions: Exploring biomedical or patient-centered communication?. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 10(1), 1-20.
Olsson, E., Ingman, P., Ahmed, B., & Sporrong, S. K. (2014). Pharmacist–patient communication in Swedish community pharmacies. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 10(1), 149-155.
Roche, C., & Kelliher, F. (2014). Giving “best advice”: Proposing a framework of community pharmacist professional judgement formation. Pharmacy, 2(1), 74-85.
Wagner, J. D., Bezuidenhout, M. C., & Roos, J. H. (2015). Communication satisfaction of professional nurses working in public hospitals. Journal of nursing management, 23(8), 974-982.
World Health Organization. (2019). The Role of the Pharmacist in the Health Care System. Retrieved from https://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Jh2995e/1.5.html
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