Patient counselling: an investigation of core situations and difficulties in pharmacy practice

Within the past five years there has been a growth of interest in the application of communication skills training (CST) programmes to pharmacy. The content of these programmes has been based primarily on research carried out in other health professions. There is a clear need for similar research to be set in the context of pharmacy so that the content of CST programmes can be shown to be directly relevant and applicable to practice needs. The purpose of this investigation was to ascertain from pharmacists their perceptions of the range of situations and difficulties that were most relevant to patient counselling. The situation which was regarded as being most prevalent was that of dealing with confusion over medication, with the second being that of medication problems in the elderly. The two most frequently mentioned counselling difficulties were having sufficient time to deal with patients and ensuring patient understanding. The findings are discussed within the context of the design and content of CST programmes, and the wider application of the behavioural and social sciences to the practice of pharmacy.