Why Pharmacist should embrace creativity in patients’ interactions?

In a world of product and service innovation, the human touch is a need of the hour. Be a pharmacist is not only defined your knowledge of medicines but also makes you understand the creative aspects of medicines. So if you choose your career in pharmacy you must have a humanitarian approach with your patients. This is good to be trained in pharmacology but patients need more from pharmacists. Way of dealing with the patients may differ from one to one but the prime purposes always remain the same. The creative way to interact with patients gain popularity among patients due to its problem-solving method.

In England, around 42% of adults are unable to understand or make use of everyday health information; this staggering statistic rises to 61% when also accounting for numeracy skills. Often people need other means of understanding and exploring their health and medicines, beyond using just words. If someone has trouble verbally expressing how they feel about their medicine, they might be able to draw or paint their feelings.

Some patients may have experienced this before, but this is not the service I provide I like to engage people through means tailored to them and their situation.

At a time when technology and phone apps can provide almost as much information about medicines or illnesses as healthcare professionals, our knowledge is no longer enough. Anyone can become a so-called ‘accredited’ herbalist, naturopath or nutritionist through an online course, and many clients in mental health seek these services.

Pharmacist work now is very different from the way they used to work seven years ago. Then, they gave advice to their clients and tried to convince them to take their medicines. Somehow they were surprised that people didn’t do what they advised; today they know the method of training and motivational interviewing and non-violent communication.

As long as pharmacists practice in a safe and client-centered way, there should be no boundary to embracing creativity in healthcare work with patients.

The new age pharmacist practices the design thinking method for introducing creative problem solving into the field of medical professionals. So they can address all the healthcare issues in a whole new way. With the help of storytelling in medication groups or one to one interactions, they lead mindfulness exercises with a medication focus. Often, people who want to find out more about possible treatments or those who are considered difficult patients are facilitated with new medication treatments. They use the services not necessarily because the providers are highly trained, but because they provide a space where people can express themselves without fear of coercion or a power dynamic.

And this is what everyone needs in pharmacy practice; health professionals need to practice not only the theoretical and practical aspects of our profession but also take a humanistic approach. The pharmacist can do this by embracing creativity in his work in whatever small or large way they can.

We are all innately creative, and Pharmacist can start working creatively with as basic an activity as drawing a medication timeline together, asking the person to tell you their medication story, or creating a medication tree that encapsulates all the elements that help someone live meaningfully, from the ability to self-care, to the ability to participate in leisure, work, and relationships. Make the health world more cheerful and caring with a simple creative interaction, It's your world to be positive, so just embrace it.