Consultation skills (advanced)

Consultations with older people are commonplace in pharmacy practice, but increasing complexity around medicines and conditions can present challenges. Supporting the older person in making decisions around their medicines and health while promoting dignity and respect is a vital part of the role of every healthcare professional.

This workshop is part of the Consultation skills for pharmacy practice programme which you can access via the Consultation skills for pharmacy website. It will support you in adapting your consultation to the needs of the older person to ensure a patient-centred approach.

Learning Objectives:

• describe the issues that make the consultation with the older person different
• appreciate and respect the perspective of the older person when discussing their medicines and health
• describe the key skills and behaviours that are essential to ensure older people are considered with respect and dignity
• adopt the key practice standards that will support you in demonstrating a person-centred approach when consulting with older people
• complete a self-reflection form to support you in developing your practice.

Effective consultation skills lie at the heart of patient-centred care. Attending this workshop will support you in developing the key consultation skills needed to ensure you are confident in delivering high-quality, patient-centred consultations and will be specifically tailored to support you in working in the general practice environment.

#CPPEconsultationskills

Learning Objectives:

• outline your professional responsibility to reflect on and develop your personal consultation skills
• apply key skills, models and techniques that support a patient-centred approach
• critique your own consultation practice and that of your peers using a reflective tool
• demonstrate a greater level of confidence in delivering a patient-centred approach to the consultation.

In this programme you will consider how to prepare for, and approach consultations with people suffering from dementia and how best to involve their carers or family members in these discussions.

Learning Objectives:

• discuss the importance and benefits of involving people with dementia in consultations and decisions about their treatment and health
• describe the skills and techniques needed to engage and communicate effectively with people with dementia
• identify some key national practice standards most applicable to pharmacy consultations with people with dementia
• recognise and address the challenges of a three-way consultation
• apply the knowledge, behaviours and person-centred skills needed to maximise the effectiveness of your consultations with people with dementia.

In this programme you will consider what is different about consulting with people with mental health problems and how you can prepare for and approach these consultations so that people get the most benefit from them.

Learning Objectives:

• describe the mental health treatment gap and the importance of parity of esteem (valuing mental health equally with physical health)
• recognise the impact of stigma and discrimination experienced by those with mental health problems
• select the key national practice standards most applicable to pharmacy consultations with people with mental health problems
• reflect on your consultations with people experiencing mental health problems
• maximise the effectiveness of your consultations in this field by applying person-centred skills and behaviours
• identify possible risks in your consultations with people with mental health problems.

Involving children in the discussion about their care can improve outcomes and promote ownership of health. This e-learning programme focuses on the key skills and behaviours you can adopt to make sure you communicate effectively with children and young people and manage the triadic consultation effectively.

Learning Objectives:

• describe the benefits of involving children and young people in the consultation
• recognise and address the challenges of the triadic consultation
• describe the skills and techniques needed to engage children and young people successfully in the consultation
• apply the skills, knowledge and behaviours to demonstrate a patient-centred approach when consulting with children and young people
• complete a self-reflection checklist to support you in developing your practice.

In this programme, we consider the key skills and behaviours you can adopt to ensure a patient-centred approach when consulting with people with physical disabilities. We focus on sight loss, hearing loss and mobility problems, and look at ways you can prepare for and conduct a successful consultation.

Learning Objectives:

• describe the benefits of developing and adapting the consultation to meet the needs of people with physical disabilities (sight loss, hearing loss and mobility/dexterity problems)
• recognise and address the different challenges a person with a disability may face in order to adapt the consultation to meet the needs of a person with a physical disability
• demonstrate partnership, working to engage and involve people with physical disabilities in the consultation
• apply skills, knowledge and behaviours to demonstrate a patient-centred approach when consulting with people with physical disabilities.

Enhancing the communication and consultation skills of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians has been identified as a priority by Health Education England. This downloadable programme forms part of the core learning for the Consultation skills for pharmacy practice programme.

Learning Objectives:

• explain the concept of patient-centred care
• describe the key communication and consultation skills and techniques required to conduct patient-centred care
• apply methods to assess your own practice and identify areas of improvement
• support patients, by using a patient-centred approach, to help them get the best from their medicines and/or in making healthy lifestyle choices
• further develop your practice by exploring tools and techniques, such as health coaching.

In this video-based e-learning programme, we consider the key skills you can use to take an effective clinical history. The program uses the Calgary-Cambridge guide to take you through the clinical history-taking process and introduces you to tools and resources to help you demonstrate a patient-centred approach to the consultation.

Learning Objectives:

• describe the clinical history-taking process
• explain the structure of the clinical history consultation
• apply key tools and techniques to the clinical history-taking consultation
• identify how to apply a patient-centred approach to taking a clinical history in practice through video observation
• develop a questioning sheet to use in practice.

The aim of this workshop is to introduce pharmacy professionals to the Consultation Skills for Pharmacy Practice programme, which supports them in developing the key consultation skills needed to ensure they are confident in communicating clearly and effectively with patients and delivering high-quality patient-centred consultations.

Learning Objectives:

• describe the concept of patient-centred practice
• recognise your professional responsibility to reflect on and develop your consultation skills, by working towards the new practice standards
• access tools and resources from the Consultation skills for pharmacy practice programme to support you in moving your practice forward.

The aim of this workshop is to introduce pharmacy professionals to the Consultation Skills for Pharmacy Practice programme, which supports them in developing the key consultation skills needed to ensure they are confident in communicating clearly and effectively with patients and delivering high-quality patient-centred consultations.

Learning Objectives:

• describe the concept of patient-centred practice
• recognise your professional responsibility to reflect on and develop your consultation skills, by working towards the new practice standards
• access tools and resources from the Consultation skills for pharmacy practice programme to support you in moving your practice forward.

Why we should understand the patient experience: clinical empathy and medicines optimisation