Background

The ability to consult has been shown to be a learnt skill¹ and the teaching of such skills has been a key feature of the medical curriculum for many years. Due to the changing roles of pharmacists, moving away from supply-centered services towards patient-centered services, there is a clear need for pharmacy practitioners to be able to consult with patients in order to identify their pharmaceutical needs. The value of undertaking a structured approach to the teaching of consultation skills to both undergraduate and postgraduate pharmacy students has long been recognised at the University of Brighton², where knowledge, skills and attitudes have been taught as core competencies of an effective practitioner-patient consultation. This study investigates pharmacy students' attitudes towards consultation skills training.

Methods & proposed analysis

The Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS)³ has been administered to 439 (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th year) undergraduate MPharm students studying at the University of Brighton, to be returned by the end of January 2003. This validated scale consists of two 13-items subscales; positive and negative attitudes towards communication skills learning. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale ("strongly disagree" to "strongly agree"). Item scores are added to give total subscale scores ranging from 13-65, with higher scores indicating stronger attitudes. Participants have also been asked to rate their perceived ability to consult with patients on a 5-point Likert scale ("poor" to "excellent"). Differences in attitude scores between year of course, exposure to consultation skills teaching and students' self-rating of their ability to consult (ANOVA) will be presented. The degree to which age, gender, ethnicity and first language influences students' attitudes towards consultation skills teaching will also be explored (multiple regression analysis).

Discussion

A recent study of medical students' attitudes towards communication skills teaching showed a strong association between positive attitudes and their self-rating of compentency³. The relationships and difference between pharmacy students' attitudes, demographic variables and previous exposure to consultation skills training will be discussed, together with the implication of these findings for the design of consultation skills training programmes for pharmacists. Further research will investigate whether students' attitudes towards consultation skills teaching differ depending on the school of pharmacy attended and the level of consultation skills training undertaken.

References

1 Kurtz, S,; Laidlaw, T.; Makoul, G. & Schnabl, G. (1999) Medical education initiatives in communication skills. Cancer Prevention & Control, 3, 1, 37-45.

2 James, D.; Nastatic, S.; Horne, R. & Davies, G. (2001) The design and evaluation of a simulated-patient teaching programme to develop the consultation skills of undergraduate pharmacy students. Pharm World Sci, 23, 6, 212-216.

3 Rees, C.; Sheard, C. & Davies, S. (2002) The development of a scale to measure medical students' attitudes towards communication skills learning: the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS). Medical Education, 36, 141-147.