Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP
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Res Social Adm Pharm · Jun 2006
ReviewConceptualizing and measuring pharmacist-patient communication: a review of published studies.
Pharmacist-patient communication in community pharmacies has been studied for over 25 years with little effort to evaluate this research comprehensively. ⋯ Most studies (72%) have used the term patient counseling, although pharmacist-patient communication and patient education were also used. The definition of patient counseling varies across studies. Almost half of the studies (49%) conceptualized pharmacist-patient communication solely as a pharmacist information provision activity. A total of 16 studies (41%) also focused on pharmacists' interpersonal behavior in addition to the information provision activity of the pharmacist. In contrast, patient communication behavior and the exchange process between both parties has been understudied. A total of 16 studies (41%) used a retrospective design. All studies used a cross-sectional design, with varying modes of data collection such as mail surveys, telephone interviews, nonparticipant observation, and shopper studies. Taped encounters are rare. SUMMARY/IMPLICATIONS: This review revealed that most studies have focused on a one way communication of pharmacists to patients. A need for examining the patient-pharmacist dyad is apparent. Future research could explore a greater use of taped encounters to analyze the interactive communication process, affective components of communication such as collaborative problem solving, interpersonal relationship development, and the expertise that patients bring into the encounter.
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Although there is a growing interest in medication safety, there remains much confusion about the terminology used to describe the problem. Some have described the classification of medication safety terminology as haphazard. ⋯ As the medication safety literature continues to expand, it is imperative that standardized terminology be adopted and used consistently.