Sophie Liekens

The Role of Interprofessional Communication in Pharmaceutical Care

Pharmaceutical care can hardly be provided without collaboration with other healthcare providers. In its optimal form, interprofessional collaboration entails that providers discuss mutual goals, resources, and responsibility for patient care. In order to support this collaboration, interprofessional education is essential. Collaborating in healthcare is a competency and can be learned. One of the central elements in the competence “collaborator in healthcare” is interprofessional communication. This competency is characterized by different aspects, which apply whatever the medium used.

Pharmaceutical Care and the Role of the Patient

In order to effectively implement the gold standard for healthcare practice, person-centered care, communication between the patient and the pharmacist is required. As patients form a heterogeneous group with different needs depending on the disease stage they are in, coping strategies and health beliefs, an accurate understanding of the patient’s own motivations, priorities and preferences is critical. Based on the evidence discussed in the current chapter, we strongly believe that drug information embedded in pharmaceutical care contributes more to therapy adherence and patients’ quality of life if this information is adjusted to patients’ needs. Therefore, the role of the patient in pharmaceutical care is to express his/her needs - and it is the role of the pharmacist to explore those needs and to help patients to articulate them. Consequently, the pharmacists should provide tailored information responsive to patients’ needs.