Caring behaviors can make a difference

Abstract

The other day, a patient approached me with a concerned expression on her face. When I asked if I could help, she asked if she could talk to me privately. I directed her to one of our patient consultation areas and sat down to talk with her. She was concerned about her husband who has several chronic medical conditions including pain. She wanted my opinion regarding his medication regimen and advice about his pain meds. The other day, a patient approached me with a concerned expression on her face. When I asked if I could help, she asked if she could talk to me privately. I directed her to one of our patient consultation areas and sat down to talk with her. She was concerned about her husband who has several chronic medical conditions including pain. She wanted my opinion regarding his medication regimen and advice about his pain meds. Although this scenario is common in many pharmacies, it caused me to pause and think about my value to her and her husband. She said that she had switched to our pharmacy 6 years ago because she believed I was a caring and knowledgeable pharmacist. To be honest, I do not remember my early interactions with her or her husband, but something I said or did must have made a difference in their lives. ■Patients react positively to pharmacists who demonstrate empathy and care.■Good pharmacy leaders create a culture of caring within their practice. ■Patients react positively to pharmacists who demonstrate empathy and care.■Good pharmacy leaders create a culture of caring within their practice. Questions came to my mind. How do our patients perceive us? Why did they choose our practice instead of other pharmacies? I remembered the adage, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Perhaps it is the caring aspects of our behaviors that affect patients’ preferences for one pharmacist or pharmacy over another. I reviewed the literature to see what has been studied about caring behaviors of pharmacists and came across an interesting article published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association that provided me with some answers to my questions. ■The study observed caring pharmacists (as determined by their pharmacy managers) and identified caring behaviors demonstrated during interactions with patients.■Observation and interviews were used to assess caring attitudes of pharmacists who practiced in cor- porately owned community pharmacies in greater Chicago.■The following four categories of caring behaviors emerged:•Physical behaviors: pharmacists’ body language and reflection•Relationship behaviors: pharmacists’ interactions with patients•Task behaviors (nonpharmacy): helping patients find items or explaining their costs/receipts•Task behaviors (pharmacy): pharmacists’ counseling and education of patients■The pharmacy manager was essential in creating the caring culture of the pharmacy. This made a difference in how the pharmacy staff interacted or related to their patients.■Mentors were a powerful influence in developing caring pharmacists.■Caring pharmacists treated their patients holistically. They knew many of their patients by their first names. Patients were treated as individuals.■Caring pharmacists enabled their patients to take control of their health. As pharmacists make strides in reengineering their practices to provide medication therapy management (MTM) services, we must remember that patients respond favorably to pharmacists who demonstrate empathy and care. MTM services are just that—ser- vices. They alone do not provide care. Patients judge the quality of MTM services by the outward behaviors demonstrated by pharmacists during the MTM session. It is the patients’ perceptions that become their reality. They need to experience the caring behaviors of pharmacists in order to know that pharmacists do care about their health and that the pharmacists see them as unique individuals. Comprehensive MTM services focus on the entire patient— all medications and medical conditions. MTM is a great vehicle for pharmacists to demonstrate care to patients. Comprehensive MTM services focus on the entire patient—all medications and medical conditions. The Medication Action Plan provides patients with their own road map to achieve optimal benefits of their medications. By working with MTM pharmacists, patients are better-informed consumers of medications and are in more control of their medications and health outcomes. Last, pharmacy managers and supervisors should set an example for the rest of the staff. Good leaders create a culture of caring within their practice so that staff knows what is expected of them when interacting with patients. As more pharmacies and providers provide MTM services, patients will have a variety of choices for care. I am betting that they will choose those who they believe are the most caring.