Impact of small-group sessions on motivational interviewing outcomes

• Patient counseling skills are becoming increasingly important for pharmacists as the profession shifts to a more clinical role. • Schools of pharmacy are seeking to prepare their students to better communicate with patients. • American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education recognize this need.1 • Motivational interviewing (MI) is a patient –centered style of counseling that seeks to have the patient talk themselves into a change. • Done through eliciting change talk from the patient and accessing the patient’s own motivation for making the change.2,3 • Four key components comprise all MI techniques2: • Expressing empathy • Rolling with resistance • Supporting self-efficacy • Developing discrepancy • Current data shows that MI education improves pharmacy student counseling abilities .1,4 • Cedarville University School of Pharmacy handbook states “the School of Pharmacy develops exceptional pharmacy practitioners focused on meeting the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of patients through servant leadership.”