TOPIC 2:

Communication
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson, the student will be able to:

a. Recognize and understand the power of communication

b. Learn techniques to manage and ensure proper communication

c. Prepare standard script for receiving patients

d. Demonstrate reporting of untoward incident

INTRODUCTION
People are communicating with each other. In whatever way, verbal or
non-verbal, people need to communicate in order to relay the message
that she/he wants to convey. There are a lot of ways to communicate and
in these ways, there are also barriers to its effectiveness. There are also a
lot of aspects to consider when you communicate in order for the other
party to understand what your message is. At times, you will be
misunderstood, with this discussion, we will learn on how to communicate
effectively and to solve whatever hurdles encountered.
Learning Content
Prior knowledge:

Write a one sentence definition of Effective Communication

• Define as the process of transmitting and receiving
ideas, informations and messages

• In everyday language, it is an act of giving and receiving

information

• Shared feelings/understanding
Methods of communication:
1. One way – memo, fax, email, voice mail, letter

2. Two-way – phone call, in person

3. Collaborative – team meetings, group problem

solving
➢ Every platform for communication involves a large number of
experiences, actions and emotions

➢ Communication is said to be effective when the receiver understands the

same meaning that the sender intends to convey

➢ In other words, excellent or effective communication is the ability to

receive a transmitted message by the sender and have the receiver be able to
replicate the form and intent of the message in the receiver’s mind.
7 C’s of Effective Communication
❏ Completeness

❏ Conciseness

❏ Consideration

❏ Clarity

❏ Concreteness/ contribution

❏ Courte
Barriers of Communication:
● Noise barrier

• The feedback problem

• The problem of media selection

• Mental barriers

• The problems of language and articulation

• Personal and physical barriers

• Cultural barriers

• Interpersonal barriers

• Information overload

• Passive listening
Interpersonal Skills
All about working with other people

• Employees ability to get along with others while performing

his job

• Characteristic traits like manners, courtesy, habits, behavior

and appearance which helps us to communicate and maintain
relationship with others
List of Interpersonal Skills:
❏ Verbal communication

❏ Non-verbal communication

❏ Listening

❏ Questioning

❏ Manners

❏ Problem solving

❏ Assertiveness
Healthy Interpersonal Relationship:
Promoting effective coordination

• Facilitating teamwork and collaboration

• Motivating individuals to put in extra work

• Creating a supportive working climate characterized by loyalty

and trust
Unhealthy Interpersonal Relationship:
● Low morale and lack of motivation

• Unwillingness to put in extra effort

• Decreased loyalty

• Increase absenteeism

• High turnover

• Poor productivity
Interpersonal Skills:
1. Networking – self
-confidence, network building,
effective communication

2. Teamwork – mentoring,
group work, delegation,
collaboration

3. Leadership – mentoring,
delegation, motivating others
Principles of Interpersonal Communication:
1. Inevitable
2. Irrevocable
3. Open to misinterpretation
4. Highly contextual
Barriers to Interpersonal Communication:
1. Ego
2. Personal
attitude
3. Stress
4. Position
5. Distance
6. Culture
7. Technology
Getting Along with Others:
- it is always good to check one’s assumptions
· do not assume that people have ignored you
· sometimes a request is refused, do not take it personally
· typecasting people is perhaps the biggest barrier to
communication
· trust your own judgement rather than that of others
Advantages of Communication:

better understand what others are saying

enhance relationship
Which communication skills are required?
1. Listening skills

The nonverbal signs such as establishing and maintaining eye

contact, smiling nodding and posture signify that the listener is
paying attention. Verbal signs can indicate that careful listening is
going on that includes occasional comments.
2. Questioning

Two types of questions- open or closed. Example, if a pharmacist was

going to advise a client about stopping smoking, an open question will be
“Tell me about your smoking.” and the closed questions would be “How
many do you smoke a day? When do you smoke?.

Open questions produce lengthier answers and is time consuming. In the

context of health promotion, open questions va produce information to
help pharmacist better understand the situation
3. Explaining skills

A useful structure for explanation: introduction, information then

summary
4. Language and jargon

The vocabulary and language used by pharmacist are a major

influence on the customer’s understanding. Pharmacists must
use simple terms and avoid jargon and technical terms if
possible.
5. Influencing/persuading skills
Guidelines for becoming a ‘persuasive pharmacist”
1. Think about your personal appearance
2. Think about the appearance of your pharmacy
3. Provide high quality services
4. Use simple language
5. Give additional ideas and viewpoints, in case both ideas do
not coincide
6. Involve individual in formulating action plan
7. When presenting series of facts, present summary and
conclusion
8. Praise effort, progress and achievement however small
9. Find a positive value, attitude or behaviour
6. Using written information
Provision of written information as patient information leaflets
7. Maximizing understanding and memory
- Speak slowly
- avoid jargon
- Use short words or sentences- simplify
- Increase recall
- Written back up
NOTE: Watch the following videos

1) Prescription handover – Community Pharmacy Practice: Sample conversation – patient and pharmacist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-j6mrEqOzg

2) Picking Up Prescriptions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NXqTqZLl90

3) MyDocNow Telemedicine launched in the Philippines (2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG4LXHcdjqQ

4) What is Telemedicine? (2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBXnBEaBNZw

5) How Retail Telepharmacy Works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtsdgjQVvuQ&t=114s

Learning Evaluation:
TLA 1 (CO1): Script Writing
Expected Output: Script
Instructions:
1. Write a standard script for receiving patients/client in a
pharmacy
2. Assume any scenario in community or hospital pharmacy
TLA 2. Message relay (whispering game)

Instructions: Play-Share-Pair
1. At your own home, form a group that compose of at least 5 members
2. Form a line and the person in front will be given a message and must pass it
correctly to the next person by whispering
3. The goal is to get the message relayed to the last person intact and without any
changes
Guide questions to answer:
1. What happened during the game? Was it smooth? Was there any problem
encountered?
2. Was the original message stayed intact on the last person?
3. If yes, what have you done to make the message intact?
4. If no, what are the possible causes of the disrupted message?
TLA 3 (CO2). Reflective Writing

Expected output: Reflection paper

Instruction: Take the following scenario:
Supposing that you encountered a sensitive and impatient client, how would
you deal with the client in this situation?
ASSESSMENTS
AT2 (CO1)

Telepharmacy and Telemedicine is starting to be used here in our

locality, we are aware of its advantages (as shown in the youtube
videos), what do you think will be its advantages?
 Service

Psalm 19:14

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my
redeemer”