Communications Training in Pharmacy Education, 1995-2010

Abstract

The role of the pharmacist as a "communicator" of information and advice between patients, other healthcare practitioners, and the community is recognized as a vital component of the responsibilities of a practicing pharmacist. Pharmacy education is changing to reflect this, although the difficulty is in designing a curriculum that is capable of equipping students with the necessary knowledge and skills, using activities that are effective in promoting communication competency. The objective of this review was to identify published, peer-reviewed articles concerning communication training in pharmacy education programs, and describe which communication skills the structured learning activities aimed to improve and how these learning activities were assessed. A systematic literature search was conducted and the articles found were analyzed and divided into categories based on specific communication skills taught and type of learning activity used. Oral interpersonal communication skills targeted at patients were the most common skill-type described, followed by clinical writing skills. Common teaching methods included simulated and standardized patient interactions and pharmacy practice experience courses. Most educational interventions were assessed by subjective measures. Many interventions were described as fragments, in isolation of other learning activities that took place in a course, which impedes complete analysis of study results. To succeed in communication training, integration between different learning activities and progression within pharmacy educations are important.

Communication Capacity Building through Pharmacy Practice Simulation

“…2 Effective communication is an essential professional standard for pharmacy students. [2][3][4] Good communication skills enable pharmacists to establish effective relationships with patients and health care teams, contributing to the optimization of health outcomes and promotion of interprofessional relationships.…”

“…2 Effective communication is an essential professional standard for pharmacy students. [2][3][4] Good communication skills enable pharmacists to establish effective relationships with patients and health care teams, contributing to the optimization of health outcomes and promotion of interprofessional relationships. 2,[4][5][6][7] While communication skills remain imperative for patient care in pharmacy practice, increasingly communication training is focused on the need for pharmacists to communicate competently with other health professionals.…”

“…[2][3][4] Good communication skills enable pharmacists to establish effective relationships with patients and health care teams, contributing to the optimization of health outcomes and promotion of interprofessional relationships. 2,[4][5][6][7] While communication skills remain imperative for patient care in pharmacy practice, increasingly communication training is focused on the need for pharmacists to communicate competently with other health professionals. 2,8,9 Inadequate communication among health professionals can result in misunderstandings, negatively affect interprofessional relationships, cause suboptimal information transfer, and adversely affect health outcomes.…”

“…2,[4][5][6][7] While communication skills remain imperative for patient care in pharmacy practice, increasingly communication training is focused on the need for pharmacists to communicate competently with other health professionals. 2,8,9 Inadequate communication among health professionals can result in misunderstandings, negatively affect interprofessional relationships, cause suboptimal information transfer, and adversely affect health outcomes. [10][11][12] Interprofessional educational innovations assist in enhancing pharmacists' communication skills with other disciplines and foster general awareness of the potential of pharmacists' professional contributions, 13,14 thus facilitating pharmacists' participation in interdisciplinary health care teams.…”

“…15,16 Pharmacy students' development of and training in communication skills often uses some mode of simulated learning to assist with acquiring communication competencies and enhancing skills as learners. 2,6 Many health disciplines use simulations, including computer simulations, mannequin and actor simulations, [17][18][19] and some pharmacy schools incorporate simulated learning into their curricula. 13,15 Examples include virtual patients and online virtual patients, 18 virtual practice environments, 20 simulated patients with intellectual disabilities, 19 and human patient mannequins to teach interdisciplinary team skills.…”