Coaching for Primary Care

Patient-centered approach is critical in current team-medication, and the importance of the approach is broadly accepted among the medical workers including pharmacists. Nevertheless, based on the experience as a communication trainer for medical workers and a faculty at the pharmacy school, many of pharmacists and/or pharmacy students have certain mental model for the pharmacist-patient relationship similar to the paternalism. Active concern to the decision-making and the health behavior for the patients' own medication is the key for patient-centered approach. Heron's six categories of intervention model show the need for caregivers to support their clients' autonomy with facilitative approach. Coaching, client-centered, behavior-focus support communication method would be useful for the pharmacists to implement the facilitative approach in medical context, especially on the primary care.