A tool to teach communication skills to pharmacy students.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a tool to teach pharmacy students assertive communication skills to use when talking with physicians over the telephone.


METHODS
As an assignment for their Communication Skills and Counseling course, students were asked to write a script involving a patient care issue or problem covering 3 different communication styles that could be used when contacting a prescriber by telephone: passive, aggressive, and assertive. Students worked in groups to write and act out the scripts for the class.


RESULTS
Eight scripts were developed by students and rated by peers and faculty members. The script that received the highest ratings was used in the development of a multimedia educational CD.


CONCLUSIONS
The development of hypothetical scripts describing a drug therapy problem and illustrating the types of interactions between physicians and pharmacists while discussing the problem allowed pharmacy students to explore different communication techniques and improve their communication skills.
Hasan
Sanah
S
College of Pharmacy, Sharjah University, United Arab Emirates. shasan@sharjah.ac.ae
D000374:Aggression; D001242:Assertiveness; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D016250:Compact Disks; D003479:Curriculum; D004512:Education, Pharmacy; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D019212:Multimedia; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology; D016730:Program Development; D013339:Students, Pharmacy / Q000523:psychology; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods; D013689:Telephone