Consultation skills: face-to-face and remote

This website is the new home of the Medicines Related Consultation Assessment Tool (MR-CAT) - a tool that can be used in any area of pharmacy practice. The MR-CAT is a new global assessment tool designed for use by healthcare professionals to assess pharmacy professionals' consultations.

This is a downloadable programme that enables you to describe the key communication and consultation skills and techniques required for person-centred care. You will learn how to explore a person’s beliefs, ideas, concerns and expectations and tailor the consultation to help them get the best from their medicines and to make informed health and lifestyle choices. The programme also develops your skills in engaging the person in shared decision making and enabling them to be a true partner in the consultation.

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of all aspects of this learning programme you should be able to:

• explain the concept of person-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.

This is a video-based programme where you will watch experts demonstrating the key phrases, skills and techniques for a person-centred approach to consultations. The interactive activities will help you apply your learning to practice and make best use of the time during a consultation. You will also be able to explain the concept of clinical empathy and how to demonstrate this in practice.

Learning Outcomes:

• apply key phrases to facilitate a patient-centred approach to your consultation
• demonstrate appropriate skills and behaviours to ensure the best use of time in the consultation
• explain the concept of clinical empathy and how it can be demonstrated
• rate consultation skills and techniques more confidently in preparation for the Consultation skills for pharmacy practice assessment.

This e-learning programme is for all pharmacy professionals undertaking virtual consultations. It has been developed to support you in applying your existing consultation skills when undertaking consultations via video and over the phone.

Learning Outcomes:

• explain the similarities and differences between remote and face-to-face consultations
• identify when it is suitable to undertake a remote consultation and when a face-to-face consultation should be offered
• describe the steps you can take to prepare for a remote consultation
• discuss the way that the CONSULT model can be used to support the planning and undertaking of a remote consultation
• identify actions that you can take throughout a remote consultation, in order to build rapport and manage challenges
• relate your learning to existing consultation skills, in order to successfully undertake remote consultations.

The practice standards for consultation skills set out the knowledge, skills, behaviours and attitudes you need when communicating and consulting with people. In working towards these practice standards, you will need to take a more holistic view of the person. As a pharmacy professional, it is your responsibility to develop your knowledge and competence and to integrate these standards into your everyday practice.

This learning will support you to adopt a person-centred approach to involving people with dementia in consultations and decisions about their treatment and health.

Learning Outcomes:

• 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. You will also recognise the impact of stigma and discrimination experienced by those with mental health problems and how to adapt your consultation style to address their needs and concerns.

Learning Outcomes:

• 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 Outcomes:

• 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 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 Outcomes:

• 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 overall aim of this course is to create a culture shift in practice by supporting pharmacy professionals to embed shared decision making as part of personalised care.

Learning Outcomes:

• define what is meant by shared decision making
• describe how shared decision making can improve a consultation from the perspective of a pharmacist and the person that they are consulting with
• demonstrate the use of the tools and techniques outlined in this course to support shared decision making*
• compare these different tools and techniques in order to select those that you will use in practice
• evaluate your ability to use shared decision making in practice.

* To fully meet this learning outcome as part of this programme you will need to arrange role play activities independently. Further details on how to do this are shared as part of the programme. If you are unable or choose not to arrange the role play activities you can achieve this learning outcome through experiential learning and applying what you have learnt from the programme to your practice.

This course is designed for all healthcare professionals working in clinical practice where there’s a need to undertake remote consultations.

You’ll learn how to conduct history-taking virtually and take essential observations in a remote setting. You’ll also consider safe patient management and how to triage patients via remote consultations.

This programme looks at some of the issues that the transgender and non-binary community face when accessing healthcare services. The interview panel address these issues in relation to community pharmacy practice and discuss some of the measures pharmacy can take to provide an inclusive and supportive person-centred service for people in the transgender and non-binary community.

Learning Outcomes:

By watching this interview and completing the associated activities in the programme you should be able to:

• describe some of the issues the transgender and non-binary community face within healthcare
• introduce measures to make your pharmacy more inclusive and a safe space for the transgender and non-binary people accessing your services
• demonstrate a team approach to supporting transgender and non-binary people with health and social care issues.

This distance learning programme will enable you to support people with a learning disability and their families to manage behaviours that challenge, in line with National Institute of Health and Care Excellence guidance. It will also empower you to adopt a holistic approach to medicines optimisation to help people with a learning disability to be involved in the consultation when they can and to make the most of their medicines.

Learning Outcomes:

• categorise a range of learning disabilities and the differences in capability that can occur in each of these
• describe key policy drivers that support change in the management of people with a learning disability
• explain consent to a person with a learning disability and recognise when to involve family members, carers and support workers in the consultation
• demonstrate patient-centred consultation skills and behaviours to meet the needs of people with a learning disability
• promote physical health and wellbeing and support patients to manage their concurrent physical health conditions
• identify people with a learning disability and concurrent mental health disorder and provide them with advice and support
• support people with a learning disability and their families to manage behaviour that challenges, in line with National Institute of Health and Care Excellence guidance
• explain the importance of a holistic approach to medicines optimisation as a strategy to help people with a learning disability make the most of their medicines.

This fact file provides lots of handy hints and tips to help you pass the Consultation skills for pharmacy practice assessment. It is recommended that you have access to this guidance whilst you attempt the assessment.

This fact file forms part of the Consultations skills – face to face and remote learning gateway. On this learning gateway page, you will find a range of learning resources which aim to increase your knowledge, skills, and confidence in relation to developing your consultation skills.

This e-assessment is linked with the practice standards for consultation skills and the CPPE consultation skills learning programmes.

Why should I do this assessment?

Access and successful completion of this assessment will contribute to your own personal development plan, be recorded in your My CPPE record and will enable you to complete a CPD entry on the learning. It may also provide evidence for achieving competencies in the RPS Foundation or Advanced Pharmacy Frameworks. If you are working towards completing a Declaration of Competence for a pharmacy service, successful completion of this assessment will provide evidence of your learning.

Excellent communication and consultation skills are a key part of providing safe and effective services. CPPE has developed this set of cards to help all pharmacy staff improve their skills. All members of the pharmacy team should find this resource useful for improving their communication and consultation skills. The cards can be used by individuals, or as a tool to facilitate a training session.

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of all aspects of this learning programme you should be able to:

• describe what person-centred care means
• be more confident when communicating with the people who come into your pharmacy
• recognise good communication and consultation skills, compared with those that need improvement
• explain how facial expressions and body language can improve communication and help to build a rapport
• apply good listening skills
• know how to close a consultation effectively and safely
• discuss some of the challenges and barriers to good communication in community pharmacy.

In this animation we tell a story of a consultation between John (the patient) and Georgina (the pharmacy professional).

The Emma and Georgina animation highlights the importance of effective consultation skills and how applying a person-centred approach can make a difference when supporting someone with mental health problems.

Demonstrating that you are developing your consultation skills and working towards the practice standards for pharmacy consultations is a core competence within Declaration of Competence (DoC).

A quick guide to share with patients to help them prepare for a video consultation.

FAQs for clinicians on video consultations.

Support developed by NHS England, originally put in place to help NHS trusts and Foundation trusts to rapidly scale up their video consultation capability in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

This RPS page opens with an introductory webinar and contains links to further learning and resources.