Advantage and Disadvantage of Telecommunication
Communicating with patients
The New Medicine Service (and MURs) provides a formal opportunity for pharmacists to communicate with patients on a one-to-one basis about their medicines and underlying medical condition(s). The
NMS permits the interventions to be done either as a face-to-face appointment or via telephone. Careful consideration must be given as to which of these communication methods is adopted by the pharmacy as each method brings its own advantages and disadvantages. Although face-to-face communication would be the preferred method of conducting an intervention, it is likely that telephone interventions will be used by most pharmacies at some stage. This brief guide will help you and your staff communicate more effectively when using the telephone as part of the NMS.
The words we use make up less than 10% of the way we communicate in a face-toface situation, with the way we say these words (paralinguistics) and body language making up the remaining percentage.
When you are dealing with someone over the telephone you cannot see them, which deprives you of most of the information you would normally have about the other person
(body language, eye contact etc). You can base your judgements only on the words you can hear and the way they are being said, which can sometimes present challenges.
Advantages and disadvantages Some of the advantages and disadvantages of telephone communication are:
Telephone communication Advantages of communicating by telephone:
• often easier to reach someone by phone than by trying to arrange to see them in person; more convenient for patients
• more likely to succeed in contacting someone – especially if a time / date has been agreed (few people are able to ignore the telephone and leave it ringing)
• telephone conversations are, on average, shorter than face-to-face conversations as it’s easier to control the conversation and take the initiative.
The New Medicine Service (and MURs) provides a formal opportunity for pharmacists to communicate with patients on a one-to-one basis about their medicines and underlying medical condition(s). The
NMS permits the interventions to be done either as a face-to-face appointment or via telephone. Careful consideration must be given as to which of these communication methods is adopted by the pharmacy as each method brings its own advantages and disadvantages. Although face-to-face communication would be the preferred method of conducting an intervention, it is likely that telephone interventions will be used by most pharmacies at some stage. This brief guide will help you and your staff communicate more effectively when using the telephone as part of the NMS.
The words we use make up less than 10% of the way we communicate in a face-toface situation, with the way we say these words (paralinguistics) and body language making up the remaining percentage.
When you are dealing with someone over the telephone you cannot see them, which deprives you of most of the information you would normally have about the other person
(body language, eye contact etc). You can base your judgements only on the words you can hear and the way they are being said, which can sometimes present challenges.
Advantages and disadvantages Some of the advantages and disadvantages of telephone communication are:
Telephone communication Advantages of communicating by telephone:
• often easier to reach someone by phone than by trying to arrange to see them in person; more convenient for patients
• more likely to succeed in contacting someone – especially if a time / date has been agreed (few people are able to ignore the telephone and leave it ringing)
• telephone conversations are, on average, shorter than face-to-face conversations as it’s easier to control the conversation and take the initiative.