Communication with the patient is one of the greatest weaknesses of Czech pharmacists. Moreover, up to 90 per cent of Czech pharmaceutical students are of the opinion that university education in this area does not sufficiently prepare them for communication with the patient in a pharmacy.

The Pharmacy Communication Championship could serve to fill this gap in Czech pharmacists’ edification. This educational programme for Czech pharmaceutical students contributes to the improvement of communication skills of future pharmacists, thereby also improving the general level of care for the patient in pharmacies.

The project is built on two pillars – a series of interactive seminars, "Effective communication in the pharmacy", and the subsequent two-round Pharmacy Communication Championship competition. The project took place for the first time in 2009. Owing to the great interest, the second edition was extended to include Slovakia too, in 2010. In response to the project, all pharmaceutical faculties in the Czech Republic and Slovakia launched interactive training in pharmacists’ communication with patients. The programme was financed by the company Apotex within the PACE educational platform.

Interactive seminars on pharmacy communication took place at all pharmaceutical faculties in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The communication campaign included posters, websites, presentations at lectures and communities on Facebook.

The best participants of each seminar advanced into the regional round of the competition, which took place in the form of simulation of real communication between a customer and a pharmacist. The professional jury evaluated the performances especially when it came to the psychological and communication aspects. Journalists were directly involved in the process too, in order to increase the project’s publicity. They could personally try out the role of patients.

Promotion of the final that followed was supported by the participation of a former Miss Czech Republic, who is herself a pharmacist. The event took place in the form of simulation of situations in a pharmacy, with the patients’ roles being enacted by several representatives of the media.

In response to the project, all pharmaceutical faculties in the Czech Republic and Slovakia launched interactive training in pharmacists’ communication with patients. The importance of increasing the skills of future pharmacists in the area of communication was successfully carried through in a wide scale of media outlets, including nationwide television and radio broadcasts. A total of 50 outputs appeared in the media within a single month.

The project gave rise to an open discussion about the importance of pharmacists’ communication with patients in pharmacies and the pharmacist’s general role in the health care system. At the same time, it highlighted the current state of the Czech and Slovak education systems. The project’s success has also been documented by the students’ high interest in the seminars – the interest in the seminars exceeded their capacity more than threefold.