Difficult Conversations Supporting Community Pharmacy across Avon

Difficult Conversations Supporting Community Pharmacy across Avon

What is a ‘healthy conversation • A healthy conversation supports the individual to explore their own world. • It helps them find solutions from within and plan to make change Supporting Community Pharmacy across Avon

Healthy Conversation Skills 1. Use Open Questions to help someone explore an issue 2. Reflect on your practice and conversations 3. Spend more time listening than giving information or making suggestions Supporting Community Pharmacy across Avon

Beliefs • Being given information makes people change. • Information may plant the seed but may need support • It is possible to persuade people to change their habits. • Yes • People come to us with solutions. • People will know what they like to do eg like walking but don’t like the gym, enjoys art etc- you can work with these to find something that works for them • I am responsible for the choices people make • No your not. Supporting Community Pharmacy across Avon

How do you start difficult conversations? • Using Open Questions • Making Every Contact Count is not about you giving advice. It is about asking questions and listening and responding to the person. By starting a conversation with someone you are raising a topic. There are different types of questions we can ask people. • • • What i. e. What happens when you do that? How i. e. How are you feeling today? Where i. e. Where would I go for more information? Etc. . . Other open questions that can be used begin with why, when, where, who and which. They ask the respondent to think and reflect • They will give you people's opinions and feelings • They hand control of the conversation to the talker • • Supporting Community Pharmacy across Avon

Developing exploratory questions/ Open Discovery questions • What would you say next to the following statements? • My Doctor says I’m obese; I think I need to lose weight? • I feel embarrassed going to the gym. • I know my cholesterols high but it’s hard to change my diet when my husbands a fussy eater. • I know I should cut down on smoking but my partner smokes. • It’s too expensive to eat healthily • Its very easy with the pub right next door • I’ve fallen twice recently and I’m worried about falling again Supporting Community Pharmacy across Avon

How do you think your own health influences your confidence in starting a conversation about health? Your thoughts about having a healthy conversation may include personal barriers such as: I smoke/drink/have an unhealthy diet therefore I cannot ask about their lifestyle, it’s wrong for me to ask… However you could say: I understand how difficult. . . What do you think you could do to change [eating/physical activity etc…]?