Applied communication skills training for pharmacy students: Practicing an interprofessional voicemail
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Lindstadt, C., Wash, A., Heidari, E. Table, B., Brown, L., Donovan, E., Rush, S. (May 2019), Applied communication skills training for pharmacy students: Practicing an interprofessional voicemail. Presented at the annual UT Center for Health IPE Interprofessional Health Showcase, Austin, TX
Background: Pharmacists are often required to leave voicemails when contacting other healthcare providers about prescribing errors, drug interactions, coverage issues, and other therapeutic concerns. These interprofessional communications are a source of communication apprehension for pharmacists, likely due to a lack of training on how to effectively convey their message and achieve their goals for the interaction. To instruct pharmacy students in this important skill, an interprofessional teaching team consisting of communication and pharmacy scholars led an applied learning module wherein pharmacy students were coached through the process of recording a voicemail for a physician. For additional details on the experimental Professional PharmD Communication curricula, see The 12 Fundamentals of Highly Effective Communicators: Teaching Theory-Based Professional Communication to Pharmacy Students, published in the Journal of Communication Pedagogy (2021).
Objectives: The goal of this project is to: (1) present the teaching methods and lesson plan used in carrying out this learning module and (2) evaluate the students’ self-reflection on the assignment using qualitative analysis.
Methods: This lesson plan will be presented descriptively based on the lecture slides, notes taken by the instructors, and experience of the team of instructors. After completing the lesson, students were asked to complete a Reflection and Application Debrief (RAD) assignment consisting of five questions about what they would have done differently, what was the most challenging, what their goals for the interaction were, what areas went well / what they want to work on in the future, and what communication skill they gained from participating in this module. The responses to these questions will be analyzed using qualitative methods to identify salient themes.
Outcomes: Labs were co-taught by a communication and a pharmacy scholar. First, the theoretical concept of “impression management” (i.e., the process by which individuals influence or control others’ perceptions) was explained. Then, students were directed to record a voicemail (V1) in response to a prompt describing a physician’s prescribing mistake. The class was re-convened to debrief and receive evidence-based coaching from the lab instructors. Students were then allowed to re-record their voicemails (V2) and directed to complete a reflection assignment posted on Canvas after the lab. Qualitative analysis of the RAD assignments is ongoing.
Conclusion(s): After completing the voicemail training module, students were more confident and better able to articulate their goals when communicating interprofessionally.
