RIAS Works - Resources by Subject

Pharmacy

Cavaco A, Roter D. Pharmaceutical consultations in community pharmacies: utility of the Roter Interaction Analysis System to study pharmacist-patient communication. Int J Pharm Pract. 2010 Jun;18(3):141-8.
(Communication Skills, Pharmacy, Portugal)
Communication is a key issue in the delivery of healthcare services. In the pharmacy context, pharmacist-patient communication may vary from brief counselling episodes to extensive pharmaceutical care consultations. Many community pharmacies have developed practices to facilitate the effective delivery of pharmacy care, in particular to chronic patients, although the nature and extent of the services differ widely from country to country. Diabetes-focused pharmaceutical care is an example highlighting both the opportunities and challenges associated with an expansion of pharmacy services from product dispensing to pharmaceutical consultations. An area of particular challenge of such an expansion of pharmaceutical services is the development of expertise in the delivery of patient-centred pharmaceutical consultations. Although well known to medicine and nursing, patient-centredness has not been routinely incorporated into the training of pharmacists, evaluation of pharmacy practice or conduct of pharmacy-related research. There are few studies of the communication process based on analysis of an objective record such as an audio or video recording and the common perspective is largely a one-way information flow from pharmacist to patient. This has hampered the field's ability to link pharmacy communication to outcomes, including patient adherence and satisfaction with services. An extensive body of communication research on physician-patient interaction, employing the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS), exists and the system presents a potentially useful tool in the pharmacy context. The purpose of this essay is to explore the utility of the RIAS for analysis of pharmacist-patient interaction and its implication for improving patient care and optimizing pharmacy-specific outcomes.

Cavaco AM, Romano J. Exploring pharmacists' communication with customers through screening services. Patient Educ Couns. 2010 Sep;80(3):377-83. Epub 2010 Jul 27.
(Communication Skills, Pharmacy, Portugal)
OBJECTIVE: To describe pharmacist-customer communication, during blood pressure and capillary cholesterol services, in a community pharmacy setting. METHODS: Participants were purposively selected and data collected by audio-recording. The encounters' verbal content was transcribed verbatim, utterances identified, time stamped, and classified according to a coding scheme of 15 categories. Four dialogue structures were analyzed: speaker turn, interactivity, turn density and turn duration. RESULTS: Eighty-three episodes were registered (51 blood pressure, 32 cholesterol). The average blood pressure episode lasted 5:35 min, with 81.2 utterances (55.3% customers), and an interactivity rate of 7 turns/min. The average cholesterol episode took 7:05 min, with 135.3 utterances (52.7% pharmacists), and an interactivity rate of 13.3 turns/min. In both cases, pharmacists asked more questions (mainly closed ones), while customers gave more information. An increased number of speaker turns and closed questions were associated to higher systolic pressure. No correlations were identified with cholesterol values. CONCLUSION: It would seem that pharmacists tend to control the exchange and its content through closed questioning. Although talk dominance is balanced, hypertensive episodes induce a higher information search. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Educational interventions, focusing on pharmacists' communication competencies, should be available to favor interaction skills resulting in a customer's augment of proactive information seeking behavior.

Kubota Y, Yano Y, Seki S, Takada K, Sakuma M, Morimoto T, Akaike A, Hiraide A. Assessment of pharmacy students' communication competence using the Roter Interaction Analysis System during objective structured clinical examinations. Am J Pharm Educ. 2011 Apr 11;75(3):43.
(Pharmacy, Communication Skills, Japan)
OBJECTIVE: To determine the value of using the Roter Interaction Analysis System during objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) to assess pharmacy students' communication competence. METHODS: As pharmacy students completed a clinical OSCE involving an interview with a simulated patient, 3 experts used a global rating scale to assess students' overall performance in the interview, and both the student's and patient's languages were coded using the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS). The coders recorded the number of utterances (ie, units of spoken language) in each RIAS category. Correlations between the raters' scores and the number and types of utterances were examined. RESULTS: There was a significant correlation between students' global rating scores on the OSCE and the number of utterances in the RIAS socio-emotional category but not the RIAS business category. CONCLUSIONS: The RIAS proved to be a useful tool for assessing the socio-emotional aspect of students' interview skills.

Return to top >