A human being is known to be a social animal. Therefore, it needs to communicate with another person through some modes. Interpersonal communication skills are the set of process that allows a person to communicate with another person on a face-to-face basis to relay information, emotions, meanings, or feelings through various methods of verbal and non-verbal messages. The interpersonal communication consists of both spoken and non-spoken communications and takes into account the voice tone, gestures, facial expressions, and body language. Therefore, when two or more people are present at a location interpersonal communication is certainly taking place, even if it is unintentional.
The case this paper would be analyzing is related to the interpersonal communication of the person working in a pharmacy in the sales department. The study will be looking to explain the people’s behavior in various situations occurring in real-life scenarios and their communication pattern as it happened. Moreover, the paper would be analyzing the effectiveness of interpersonal communication happened according to the situation and the reason for its failure or success.
Explanation
Generally, pharmacists are constantly engaged in communication with several people during his work. However, people differ at many levels that include education, gender, mental status, level of understanding, and preferred learning mode among others. Therefore, there is a chance that the pharmacists and these people might engage in some negative interpersonal communication, which might present some uncomfortable situations for either party.
In order to understand the development of one such scenario, the paper describes a situation, which would help in forming an informed understanding of the importance of interpersonal communication in pharmacies.
Considering an instance by analyzing the communication between a pharmacist and a busy customer, there are situations when the customer might be in a state of restlessness or hurry in purchasing the medicines he requires. This might be because the customer is worried about the person for whom the medicine is, or there is a genuine urgency while buying the medicines. At times, if he is not attended to, he might become rude or abusive, and say something that is not appropriate. Being a pharmacist, handling such delicate cases with the correct approach and temperament is essential.
In the scenario mentioned above, the pharmacist should not become reactive, and try to maintain an ideal interpersonal communication by empathizing with the customer. He should not use defamatory tone or resort to violent and abusive language. He should maintain the decorum in order to provide assistance to the customer and provide him with the information or the medication the latter is seeking.
In light of the above example, the paper provides an explanation of the situation and the possible methods to mitigate the risk of miscommunication between the people.
Based on the literature provided, it is evident that interpersonal communication is the key to maintain a healthy relationship between two or more people. There are three phases of communication that helps in developing a bond between two people. Initially, the communication begins with the entry stage, where these people exchange general information about themselves. Here the information shared is limited to family, background, and education among other not-so-private data.
The next stage that follows is the personal stage, which allows the people to know each other, and share their beliefs, attitudes, opinions, and other private things. The two people will look to find if they are comfortable and compatible with each other in this level. The third and the last stage is the exit level and determines if the two individuals in consideration have made a decision about going forward with the relationship, or to forfeit it.
However, in the case of the pharmacist-patient relationship, these stages are much obscure. This is mainly because pharmacists are often perceived as a person who would be providing the patient with the drugs prescribed by a doctor than rather being considered as the part of any healthcare team. Therefore, a miscommunication between the patient and the pharmacists leads to some non-cooperation between the two, and further to critical issues. Here, the need for having a healthy interpersonal communication is essential.
For instance, the pharmacist needs to communicate with the patient and behave in a professional manner with a body language that exudes a helping intention. Therefore, the pharmacist needs to ask the patient about the history of the prescribed drug usage and learn about any prior side effects that the patient had suffered from it. Additionally, the pharmacist needs to understand the level of understanding of the patient, so that he could describe the features of each drug, the schedule of consumption, and the unwanted consequences of the drugs in case of excessive use. To perform all these activities, the pharmacist must ask as well as provide information in a concise manner so that the passage knowledge is maintained in a relevant manner. He needs to adopt the vocabulary, which is more comprehendible by the patient and must ask open-ended questions only.
Moreover, in order to maintain the balance between a strong interpersonal communications, the pharmacist must be able to counsel the patient in the right manner. He should be aware of the brief medical history of the patient, primary concern for which the patient needs the medications, continuation of any current medications, any other ailments that are affecting the patient, the treatment strategy prescribed by the doctors, and the effect of the ailments on the current routine activity of the patient. All of this information is crucial for the pharmacist in order to provide recommendations for the best solution for the benefit of the patient. In addition, the pharmacist must also maintain a healthy professional relationship with the doctors and the physicians to clarify on the medicines and the drugs that need to be administered to the patient. The communication with the physicians must be concise and patient-focused with the intention of finding solutions to the patient’s problems and finding out the adequate clinical solutions to overcome the ailment.
Evaluation
In order to explain the interpersonal communication issues between a pharmacist and a patient, the paper describes a few forms of communicating methods that are quite effective in maintaining the proficiency of a pharmacist in order to maintain a cordial relationship with the physicians as well as the patients.
The pharmacist should always avoid making assumptions about the conditions of the patient or the medication prescribed for him. He must be ready to listen to the patient and should not resort to verbal and physical cues in agreement, to whatever the patient is speaking. Moreover, the pharmacist must take into consideration the fact that many patients tend to hide facts that they are embarrassed by like being a smoker, or a heavy drinker due to social embarrassment. The pharmacist must maintain a comfortable atmosphere in such scenarios to find the cause of the ailment so that he can provide the required treatment.
Further, in many cases, it may happen that the patient is confused about the medications he needs or could be frustrated and angry due to the lack of comprehension about certain situations. Maintaining a friendly tone is the key here, as any unfriendly tone and gesture would be enough to make the situation worse. To handle such scenarios, a pharmacist needs to analyze the cause of the frustration, and act accordingly. The situation arises mainly due to lack of clarity in the thought process, or in case of difference in understanding. The pharmacist should take some time to calm himself down in this kind of situations and try to explain to the patient politely in a slightly diminished and normal tone.
Some of the cases might require the pharmacist to talk to the patient in a more personalized manner in case the patient is feeling shy, or embarrassed to talk in front of other people. To handle this kind of situation, the pharmacist must be able to provide the patient with the comfort of speaking in a slightly secluded environment. Speaking to the patient in seclusion might also be carried out in case the pharmacist wants to gather more information about the patient condition without frequent interruptions from colleagues or to avoid distractions. It will help the pharmacist as well as the patient to have a clear interpersonal communication, and come to a speedy conclusion of the meeting.
Moreover, there are situations when the patient is not able to comprehend the instructions or the discussions with the pharmacists. This kind of situation calls for the provision of other communication mediums such as charts, diagrams or other visual aids, which makes the task of explaining certain things to the patients easier. Also, the accent of the spoken language or the names of certain medications or conditions could be tough to understand as the patient might not be accustomed to them. The pharmacist must use written modes of communication in such scenarios to explain himself and to make sure that the patient comprehends the instructions.
The interpersonal communication mainly depends on the words spoken between two individuals. Therefore, understanding each other’s language and the awareness of the vocabulary is crucial to maintaining healthy communication. The pharmacist must be aware of the language and be equipped with the right set of vocabulary in order to be comprehendible to the patient during a conversation. Additionally, there are few medical jargons and phrases that the pharmacists or the physicians might be familiar with but could be difficult for a patient to understand. The pharmacist must be aware of this fact and make sure that he is able to explain the information in a language that the patient would understand.
Conclusion
Interpersonal communication is essential in all of the real-life situations, but the unique application of it can be observed in the sales domain and is critical for pharmacists to understand and apply the techniques to a regular basis to provide better support towards the patient. Non-adherence to it might cause unnecessary issues, could damage the reputation of the pharmacy in the long run.
Reference
Floyd, Kory. Interpersonal Communications.
