Zoona Ahmad and Katie Koch are final-year PharmD candidates at the Purdue University College of Pharmacy.
Having the courage to change is the first step. However, change is difficult, and getting to that first step can be a challenge for both us and our patients. Throughout our first year in pharmacy school, we were both impacted by a concept we learned about called motivational interviewing.
Motivational interviewing is not just a series of questions a clinician asks that guides a person to a perfect solution; instead, it is a series of conversations aimed at helping individuals reflect and discover their own motivations for implementing change in their life as well as developing a plan to do so successfully.1
The motivational interviewing seminar we participated in introduced us to the 4 stages of motivational interviewing: engaging, focusing, evocation, and planning. Each step is meant to guide a person through a potential change they want to implement in their life.
We each left the seminar with a greater understanding of the process and confidence in our skills to implement it. The following year, we were asked by the students who previously organized the seminar if we would take over the project.
Developing the seminar
Over the following summer, we researched the concept and process of motivational interviewing and improved upon the materials we had been given. Due to the pandemic and its impact on our campus, we decided to conduct the seminar virtually, so we had to change our material and content to fit a virtual setting.
The seminar had two components: a didactic session and a mock patient interaction. In the first half of the seminar, we presented the 4 stages of motivational interviewing and discussed how to blend them into a conversation with a patient. During the second half, participants were placed into breakout rooms with a mock patient and an evaluator. The participants had time to practice motivational interviewing with 3 different mock patients, each representing a different type of patient. After the conversation, the evaluator, who was either an older student or faculty member, would provide the student with feedback on the conversation and ways to improve in the future.
Key takeaways
Throughout the project, there were several areas where we each had the opportunity to grow as professionals. It was the first time we had each been able to see a project this large from beginning to end on our own, from developing the content for the lecture-based portion and mock interviews to planning out the logistics of hosting an interactive event virtually to interacting with older students and faculty as peers. Handling the project entirely on our own, with help from our faculty advisors when necessary, was an introductory experience for us that helped serve as a catalyst to pursue other projects with similar collaborative layouts in pharmacy school.
Looking forward
This experience, both as a participant and as an organizer, has aided our professional development and given us the opportunity to help our peers grow. This seminar was successful at Purdue and motivated students to keep developing their patient care skills. A similar webinar can be successfully implemented at other chapters to prepare the next generation of pharmacists to talk confidently and with purpose to patients.
References
1. Miller WR, Rollnick S. Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People for Change. The Guilford Press; 2013.