PHARMACIST + PHYSICIAN POINTERS

As a new pharmacist straight out of school with not much working experience, I found my first job absolutely overwhelming. Although, I am much more confident than I started, I believe I am always learning something new.

One of the challenges I faced was communicating with doctors, despite my outgoing personality.  I quickly had to develop a rapport with MDs/PAs in order to get my message across. I learned to be concise and to the point, not telling my whole life story. Communication is imperative to our daily functioning. And with so many different health personnel involved (including nurses, doctors, PAs, and pharmacists), there should be only one goal set in mind, and that is providing a positive outcome for the patient.

I am so grateful to co-author with Dr. Cher to provide insight on successful ways to communicate with colleagues, both from a doctor's and a pharmacist's perspective.

Here are some helpful tips for effective communication:

 

The Pharmacist's POV

Written by Dr. Sandhya Kumar

(@the_modernpharmacist)

 

Be Confident and Concise

Confidence will come with experience and time. As you　make initiatives to communicate via phone, you will become more comfortable. The trick is to keep your calls short and sweet. You want to get your message across in a clear fashion.

Investigate

Take initiative and investigate. Sometimes you can do a little digging through the notes and medication history to find out about allergies or other clarifications that might be needed!

Convey trustworthiness

Trustworthiness is another critical factor in collaborative relationships, therefore　know what you are talking about and make sure you are conveying the correct information. If you need to look up something, do it before you get on the phone!

 

Call the physician back

Alternatively, if doctors are calling you for information, you can always give a call back if you don't know the answer off the top of your head. It's better to give the correct information than to guess. You will be respected much more!

Respect time

The truth of the matter is, doctors are extremely busy. One thing I found helpful was to　go through a comprehensive problem list of orders before making a phone call. If there were multiple issues to be found, you can address them at once rather than making multiple phone calls. It will make life much easier for everyone, trust! Late night calls should be for true emergencies only. If you can get a hold of a in-house PA or MD, try to do so.

 

The Physician’s POV

Written by Dr. Cherilyn Cecchini

(@doctor.cher_c)

 

I absolutely love when pharmacists join the team on family centered rounds. I can field questions to them about dosing of medications and when to time levels of peaks or troughs for certain therapies.

Communication is key to effective delivery of medical therapies and it is crucial for the entire team to communicate clearly. This may seem easy, but it can definitely prove more difficult than expected, especially when a large group of dynamic individuals are placed together. Teams are constantly changing, and this creates an even more difficult situation. Just as you start to learn the style of one team member, another person replaces that individual and takes over the role. I definitely agree that the overall goal, despite these challenges, remains positive patient care outcomes.

 

Additional tips for effective communication:

 

Ask questions

If you are unsure about certain medications, the pharmacist is a wonderful resource to utilize on family centered rounds. If you do not have a pharmacist rounding with you, be sure to jot down your question to ask them later. Organizing all of your questions in one place allows for easy reference.

 

Ask for clarification

Are you confused about the dose of a medication? Ask for help before ordering the drug. Are you worried about possible medication side effects or interactions? These are perfect questions to ask the pharmacist to look into while you continue conducting rounds. The pharmacist serves as a vital resource for these types of inquiries and they are always happy to clarify dosing, dosing schedules, medication side effects and interactions.

 

Redirect the conversation

So, you’ve found yourself completely off topic and rounds are lasting a bit longer than expected. If you’re the senior physician, encourage the members of the team to revisit the conversation after rounds are complete. If the pharmacist has a teaching point, encourage him or her to share it between patient rounds in order to manage time effectively and round efficiently.

 

Respect time

Pharmacists are generally covering as many patients as physicians and may not always have immediate answers to any questions. Allow the pharmacist to consult resources and get back to you. Try to cluster questions together in order to eliminate frequent phone calls. Lastly, always practice closed loop communication to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks while providing excellent patient care.