Patient Counseling

“Mere Medicine Supply” to

“Pharmaceutical / Patient Care”
 Lack of sufficient knowledge about their health problems and
medications among patients- non-adherence to therapy
 Retail Pharmacist- required to provide appropriate,
understandable and relevant information to patients about their
medication
 Practicing pharmacists can have a significant and positive impact
on patient care and therapeutic outcomes by providing patient
education and counselling.

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  Will discuss
 the problems,
 issues,
 challenges and
 prescribed sure shot strategies
to provide efficient, effective and result oriented patient
counselling services and using the same as a tool for “Customer
Relationship Management (CRM)”

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 PATIENT COUNSELING
 “a one -to-one interaction between a pharmacist and a patient
and/or caregiver. It is interactive in nature. It should include an
assessment of whether or not the information was received as
intended and that the patient understands how to use the
information to improve the probability of positive therapeutic
outcomes.”
 “inter-personal informative service” to assist the patients in getting
the best out of the prescribed medications
 An important responsibility of contemporary pharmacy practice is
to ensure appropriate and safe drug therapy which is cost effective
and socially committed.
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 Main Objectives of Patient Counselling:
 To obtain actual practice in counseling patients in order
for the pharmacist to become a more effective counselor
 Increasing patients’ understanding of the therapy, including
proper use and adverse effects of the medication;
 Improving patient adherence;
 Motivating the patient to play active role in health
management;
 Reducing medication errors;
 Minimizing incidence of adverse drug reactions
 Improving patient outcomes and satisfaction with care…

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 Promising Outcomes of
Patient Counselling:
 Patient recognizes the importance of their wellbeing.
 It encourages the patient to establish a working relationship with a
pharmacist & foundation for continual interaction and consultation.
 Improves the coping strategies to deal with medication side effects and drug
interactions.
 Motivates the patient to take medicine for improvement of his/her health
status.
 The patient becomes an informed, efficient and active participant in disease
treatment and self care management.
 Develops the ability in patient to take appropriate medication related
decision concerning the compliance or adherence to their medication
regimen.
 Improved job satisfaction for pharmacists.
 Improved pharmacist-prescriber relationships; and
 Improved patient loyalty as a “Delighted Customer” resulting in more
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business.
 Barriers/Hurdles/Obstacles
to Patient Counselling
 Physical Barriers: Space Constraint, Noise, etc. This becomes
irrelevant/immaterial once the pharmacist realizes the resultant
benefits and wholeheartedly gets involved in patient counselling.
 Pharmacist related Barriers: Lack of Technical Knowledge,
Interest, Willingness, Confidence, Interpersonal Skills, etc. This is
the most crucial barrier and it is absolutely under our control.
 Patient related Barriers: Illiteracy, Impatience, Unwillingness,
etc. Quite often, this barrier is created by us only.
 System related Barriers: not a legal requirement and act as
regulatory and financial disincentives to providing counselling
service
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 STRUCTURE OF PATIENT
COUNSELLING:
What to Counsel:
 name and class of the drug (e.g. antibiotic, pain reliever, etc.);
 directions for use including education about drug devices;
 special storage requirements;
 common or important drug-drug or drug-food interactions;
 the reason for the drug and the intended therapeutic response and associated
time frames;
 common or important side effects and associated time frames;
 what the patient should do to monitor his/her therapeutic response or
development of side effects;
 actions the patient should take if the intended therapeutic response is not
obtained or side effects develop;
 when appropriate, the actions the pharmacist will undertake to monitor the
patient’s progress
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 Whom to Counsel
Ideally, the retail pharmacists should counsel each and every patient.
But, the following categories of patients must always be
given special attention and counseled:
 Confused patients and their caregivers/relatives;
 Patients who are sight or hearing impaired;
 Patients with poor literacy;
 Patients whose profile shows a change in medications or dosing;
 New patients, or those receiving a medication for the first time
(transfer prescription);
 Children and their parents receiving medication; and
 Patients receiving medication with special storage requirements,
complicated directions, significant side effects.
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 FORMAT OF PATIENT COUNSELING
 Patient Counselling should be verbal, and accompanied by written
material for the patient to refer to at home.
 Patients are often stressed and upset from their illness while waiting for
their prescription and may not be able to focus on what the pharmacist is
discussing with them.
 Written material reinforces what the pharmacist says and helps the
patient recall what was said. If the patient has forgotten or is unsure of
what the pharmacist said, the written material may provide the answer,
or stimulate the patient to call the pharmacist. This provides the
pharmacist an opportunity to reinforce key points about the medication
and assess how the patient is doing.
 The written material may provide basic information only, or be quite
detailed. Pictograms, such as those used for illustrating how to
administer eye drops, are much easier to understand and should
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 HOW TO BECOME A PATIENT
COUNSELLING CHAMPION?:
 Establish relationship – show interest in patient
 Establish Trust
 Communicate Verbally and Non-verbally
 Listen Carefully
 Ask Questions
 Remain Clinically Objective
 Show Empathy & Encouragement
 Provide Privacy & Confidentiality
 Tailor Counselling to Patient Needs
 Motivate Patients to ask questions and clarify
 Stay Away from Jargons (Don’t Try to Impress)
 Verify the patients’ knowledge and understanding
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 Conclusion
 The concept of patient counselling is gradually getting popularized in
India also.
 Pharmacists in many parts of the country have started providing
patient counselling with the objective of improving patient
compliance. This has also enabled the doctors to spend more time on
patient health care.

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 THANK
YOU
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