It is essential for pharmacy teams to engage with each and every customer, listen to their needs and recommend an appropriate product, advice or guidance. And the key to each customer interaction is effective communication

Being able to commuicate effectively is an essential skill for everyone in the pharmacy team. No matter how in-depth your understanding of medicines, nutrition and health conditions, the amount of help you are able to provide a customer is limited if you don’t have good communication skills.

There is much more to this than knowing the right words to say; it is about how you say them and your body language.

An open approach usually gets the best outcome. In body language terms, this means:

• Facing the customer without any barriers such as a counter or table in the way
• Smiling rather than frowning
• Maintaining eye contact
• Keeping your arms and legs relaxed instead of crossing them
• Nodding your head.

All of this demonstrates that you are being attentive. 

Similarly, adopting a friendly tone of voice and asking open questions that prompt the customer to provide more details instead of simply answering yes or no. For example, asking “how are you currently feeding your baby?” rather than, “are you breastfeeding?” is likely to be more useful.

Active listening techniques are also a must. These include reflecting back and summarising what someone has said, and checking both your own and their understanding during and after the conversation. Don’t be tempted to fill every pause in a conversation, even if it feels a little uncomfortable, as these gaps in exchanges provide a good opportunity for the customer to reflect on what they have said and heard so far, which often leads them to add further information or ask questions on anything they are unsure about.

These skills are particularly key when advising new parents who may require additional care. 

For instance, take the time to consider what their individual needs may be. They may be anxious and worried, especially as a first-time parent, be receiving conflicting advice from family, friends or websites and forums, and they will most likely be sleep-deprived. Feeding is a potentially emotional subject area too, with some mums feeling pressure and even guilt about how they are feeding their baby.

Pharmacy teams have an important role in providing reassurance and support to parents. It is vital to be non-judgemental: there are many ways to feed a baby and the choice of breastfeeding, expressing breast milk or feeding formula milk, will depend on the parent and baby’s individual circumstances and needs. The role of the pharmacy team is to support parents to make the best choice for them and their baby, without their own beliefs influencing the decision.

The WWHAM questioning protocol used when selling medicines can also help you get to grips with an infant feeding or nutrition problem that a parent or carer is seeking help with:

Who is the person involved?

For queries of this nature, it will be an infant, but find out how old they are, including if this is an “adjusted age” because they were born prematurely, as this potentially affects the situation.

What are the symptoms?

Sometimes the person talking to you will have identified what the issue is – constipation, for example – but it doesn’t do any harm to run through any symptoms or signs that have led them to their conclusion, as it gives you not only assurance that they have got it right, but also an opportunity to identify any “red flags” that mean a referral to the pharmacist is required.

How long has the infant had the symptoms?

Some conditions that can go on for several days without having serious consequences in adults and even older children can become dangerous very quickly for babies; diarrhoea is a prime example. Pinpointing when an issue started is a good way of differentiating between situations that need urgent attention and those that don’t, which in some cases will be because parents or carers are anxious about something that is self-limiting, for example, colic. When in doubt, always check with the pharmacist.

Any actions already taken?

Asking what the parent or carer has tried so far is a useful way of establishing other management options, actions that may have exacerbated the problem as well as whether a referral is required.

Medicines being used or any other medical conditions?

Knowing what products are being used for the baby or what other conditions the baby may suffer from helps avoid interactions and ingredient duplications, which can lead to an overdose, as well as pick up on any problems that may have resulted from an adverse drug reaction. It is sensible to ascertain how much of a medicine is being given and checking this with the pharmacist, as doses for babies are very easy to get wrong because they are based on weight rather than age.