Interactive patient counseling

Interactive patient counseling methods use open-ended questions to determine what the patient knows about the medical condition and its treatment. For example, by asking What did your doctor tell you this... 

INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE INTERACTIVE PATIENT COUNSELING TECHNIQUE EVALUATION FORM... 

Leibovitch ER, Deamer RL, Sanderson LA. Food-drug interactions careful drug selection and patient counseling can reduce the risk in older patients. Geriatrics. 2004 59 19-22, 32-33. 

Interview the patient to assess complementary or alternative medication use. Counsel appropriately based on indications and drug interactions. 

Assess and counsel patients on potential adverse drug events and drug interactions. 

For patients receiving oral antibiotics either prophylacti-cally or as treatment of febrile neutropenia, counsel them that initial or persistent fever should be reported promptly and that compliance with the regimen is critical. Patients also should have easy access to medical care and adequate caregiver support. Provide information on drug interactions and adverse effects. 

The critical point in services is the service encounter. The service encounter is the interaction between the service organization, the service provider, and the customer. It is the familiar scene in the pharmacy where the patient drops off and picks up the prescription, as well as being counseled. This interaction has been termed the moment of truth in services (Norman, 1984, pp. 8—9). The rise and fall of huge corporations, as well as individual employees bonuses, can hinge on management of this brief interaction. 

ED and vascular disease commonly coexist. They share the same risk factors and endothelial dysfunction is the common denominator. ED may develop in an otherwise asymptomatic male and be an important predictor of subsequent acute or chronic cardiac events. ED may therefore offer an opportunity for risk assessment and therapeutic intervention to reduce the chance of a subsequent cardiac presentation. Cardiac patients with ED need a careful assessment to judge the safety of sexual activity and suitability for ED treatment. Properly assessed and counselled patients can safely enjoy sexual activity. ED therapy with phosphodiesterase type five inhibitors is safe and effective providing the patient and partner are advised on their use and the importance of avoiding drug interactions, especially with nitrates. 

When assessing a patient who wants to begin an herbal supplement, both past medical history as well as concurrent conventional medication used should be taken into account for potential interactions, as discussed before. Patients should be counseled to inform the pharmacist of all medications being taken, both conventional and otherwise. They should be told that herbals may be helpful or harmful and that limited efficacy data are usually available that is done in a controlled, scientific manner. If the pharmacy practitioner feels that the supplement is safe to be taken by the patient, then several counseling points should be stressed to maximize the potential of taking a quality supplement product. Multi-ingredient products should generally be avoided unless the patient is under the care of an herbalist. Labels should list both the common and Latin names, as well as the name and address of the manufacturer. It is likely better to purchase a... 

Plan for regular follow-up. The pharmacist should plan to interact with the patient at regular, usually brief intervals to reinforce the adherence plan. For example, brief appointments can be scheduled when patients visit the pharmacy for prescription refills. The plan should be adapted to the patient s lifestyle and be reevaluated from time to time to adjust for life changes, such as aging or a change in work or school schedules. If possible, the time for counseling on adherence should be separated from the dispensing and pick-up functions. 

Important safety controls are lost when samples are used. Sampling bypasses the safeguards of pharmacist medication regimen review and counseling. Drug interactions, which are screened when prescriptions are dispensed at pharmacies, may go undetected when samples are used. Labeling samples with patients names and instructions for use is often inconsistent, if it is done at One study found that instructions to the... 

There is a widely held belief that antibiotics reduce the efficacy of OCs, increasing the risk of pregnancy. However, there are little data to support this drug interaction with most antibiotics, with the exception of rifampin. Because of this potential risk, and considering the fact that OCs are not 100% effective, many practitioners still counsel patients about this issue. The Council on Scientific Affairs at the American Medical Association recommends that women be informed about the small... 

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