Communication during encounters about medication switching: Self-reported experiences of pharmacy technicians and patients

Communication skills-based training about medication switch encounters: mixed-method study on pharmacy staff and patients’ experiences

“…Topics for the interviews were identi ed based on literature, themes that arose out of the post-training evaluation questionnaire, the previous needs assessment results [5], and developed and rolled out communication training [22]. Similarly, topics for the registration forms and patient questionnaires were based on the outcomes of a needs assessment [5] and the content of the training [22].…”

“…Topics for the interviews were identi ed based on literature, themes that arose out of the post-training evaluation questionnaire, the previous needs assessment results [5], and developed and rolled out communication training [22]. Similarly, topics for the registration forms and patient questionnaires were based on the outcomes of a needs assessment [5] and the content of the training [22]. Due to feasibility reasons, the data collection of the pharmacy team member conversation characteristic registration forms and patient questionnaires were collected independently and were not necessarily from the same conversations.…”

“…Non-medical medication switch conversations, especially if they are not patient-oriented, are often perceived as di cult by pharmacy team members because of the negative reactions of patients. In our previous study, 40% of all pharmacy technicians indicated that they regularly experience these conversations as di cult [5]. About three-fourths (72%) of all the pharmacy technicians indicated that they experienced anger from a patient usually multiple times per week or month, which negatively in uences job satisfaction [5].…”

“…In our previous study, 40% of all pharmacy technicians indicated that they regularly experience these conversations as di cult [5]. About three-fourths (72%) of all the pharmacy technicians indicated that they experienced anger from a patient usually multiple times per week or month, which negatively in uences job satisfaction [5]. Stressful encounters in uence one's cognition, e.g., ability to make decisions, judgement, ability to listen, or to pay attention [14].…”

“…These medication switches, caused by medicine shortages [1] or policies with health insurance companies to decrease medicine costs [2], are common [3,4]. Our previous study showed that more than half (54%) of the pharmacy technicians indicated they conduct medication switch conversations daily, and less than a third (30%) do this on an hourly basis [5]. The intention when switching for non-medical reasons is that the new medication has the same effects as the old medication [6,7].…”