Improvisational Exercises to Improve Pharmacy Students' Professional Communication Skills

Abstract

Objective. To create and implement improvisational exercises to improve first-year pharmacy students' communication skills. Design. Twelve 1-hour improvisational sessions were developed and added to an existing/established patient communication course to improve 3 basic skills: listening, observing and responding. Standardized patient examinations were used to evaluate student communication skills, and course evaluations and reflective journaling were used to evaluate students' perceptions of the improvisational exercises. Assessment. The improvisational exercises markedly improved the students' performance in several aspects of standardized patient examination. Additionally, course evaluations and student comments reflected their perception that the improvisational exercises significantly improved their communication skills. Summary. Improvisational exercises are an effective way to teach communication skills to pharmacy students.

Communications Training in Pharmacy Education, 1995-2010

“…However, many of the activities described are fragments of larger communication courses and curriculum, and typically involve (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21) 4 (13,14,20,22) 1 (11) 2 (13,23) 1 (21) 4 (12,16,20,24) 2 (18,20) 0 InterD 5 (13,14,20,23,26) 6 (13,14,20,(26)(27)(28) 1 (28) 3 (13,23,29) 1 (29) 3 (20,23,26) 1 (28) 0 Seminar 4 (11,13,14,30) 3 (11,13,...…”

“…The majority of these studies involved interdisciplinary activities or seminars that combined pharmacy students with other health professions students, or simulation activities of common interprofessional interactions. One study involved writing a script modeling different communication styles used when talking to a physician over the phone, 39 another involved acting out a conversation with fellow students using improvisation to improve interprofessional conversational skills, 11 while others involved engaging in telephone communication with an actual prescriber. 22,35,50 General interpersonal communications skills are those not directed at a specific type of interaction, but which can be used in all forms of conversation.…”

“…26 Seminars differ from lectures in that they typically involve more discussion and interaction between the speaker and students. A seminar may be standalone, delivered in a workshop-type format 13,14,30 ; secondary to a lecture-dominated course (individual 27,34 or series 11,31,35 ); or the entire basis of a course. 32,33 The majority of seminar activities described in the studies in this review were secondary to or connected to a communications course.…”

“…There seemed to be subjective and objective American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2013; 77 (2) Article 36. assessments carried out in a variety of learning activities (eg, 6 of the simulated patient articles had subjective assessments 13,14,18,20,21,25 and 7 had both subjective and objective assessments 11,[15][16][17]19,23,24 ). Only 2 studies did not report any type of assessment.…”

The Effect of Improvisation Technique towards EFL Students’ Speaking Ability

“…To answer these questions, so conducting the research was needed under the title: "The Effect of Improvisation Technique towards Students" Speaking Ability at Class XI of Senior High School 12 Padang" This research was significant to conduct based on benefits: (1) Teacher is more creative in choosing the strategies and techniques in teaching process; (2) Teacher can demonstrate the usefulness of exercises once or twice in the beginning to build rapport and trust with the students, and (3) Students of all levels are able to practice the language immediately in learning the material. Boesen, Herrier, Apgar, & Jackowski (2009) indicated that pharmacy students felt that the improvisation sessions had a positive impact on their overall communication skills. Using improvisation training to improve pharmacy students" communication skills should be considered and could be readily implemented in other colleges.…”