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CPPE's 'Dealing with difficult discussions' programme equips pharmacy teams to manage the difficult discussions encountered in pharmacy practice.

Some discussions are more difficult than others. Each of us will have our own opinion of which discussions are the most challenging.

• What is your heart-sink scenario?
• Which discussions do you dread most?

Fifty pharmacy professionals were asked to rank their most difficult discussions and the results have been used to generate a 'top 10' of the most difficult discussions in pharmacy practice.

In third place were discussions about weight management; in second place sexually transmitted infections; and in first place dispensing errors.

Getting the response right

Anyone who has been involved in dealing with a dispensing error, for instance, will know that this is an encounter that makes the blood run cold... but, amid the shock, how should you communicate with the patient?

• What is it that patients want you to say?
• What about your non-verbal communication? Do you look at the returned medication or make eye contact with the patient first?

John Murphy of the Pharmacists' Defence Association advises pharmacy professionals to always look at the patient first. Katherine Murphy of the Patients Association advises that patients want an apology and to see that the pharmacy professional is putting measures in place to rebuild lost trust. This can be done by demonstrating measures that will be taken to prevent the error recurring.

Make eye contact

The aspect the programme development team were most nervous about tackling was communication following a bereavement or terminal diagnosis, so they were grateful to Sage & Thyme for allowing use of its model for dealing with distressed individuals.

During this programme pharmacists can evaluate the use of this model in an audio consultation clip.

Whatever you would rank as your most difficult discussion in pharmacy, this e-learning programme is designed to help you develop strategies to achieve the most positive outcomes for you and your patients.

The programme can be accessed via the CPPE website.

Contact CPPE:

Website: www.cppe.ac.uk

Email: info@cppe.ac.uk

General enquiries: 0161 778 4000

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