Pharmacists' evaluation of key communication skills in practice

This paper reports the results of a major research initiative into the iden tification of key communication skills in community pharmacist-patient cons ultations. It is now widely accepted that the quality of practitioner-patie nt communication is fundamental to effective health care. However, an analy sis of the literature pertaining to the communication issues facing health professionals in general and pharmacists in particular emphasised the need for more empirical research, to chart what pharmacists themselves deemed to be the nature and range of skills which contribute to effective communicat ion performance in community pharmacy practice. The main aim of this resear ch investigation was, therefore, to identify what constituted effective com municative performance by community pharmacists. This paper provides full d etails of the repertoire of skills and sub-skills identified as being the c ore communicative elements of practice. The results of this research will h ave relevance for health professionals and behavioural scientists, and will also contribute to the assurance of quality within the field of community pharmacy practice. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserv ed.