Doctors spend an enormous amount of time explaining the treatment to a patient, and the moment the patient goes out of the room, s/he forgets most of it. Health care providers put their honest efforts in convincing patients to adhere to medical advice and despite this, face issues of non-compliance. 

The Department of Behavioural Sciences, in collaboration with the Department of Family Medicine, organised a workshop to address these everyday challenges. Dr Waqas Rabbani facilitated this workshop, in Shifa College of Medicine, Islamabad, on February 14, 2020. 

The objective of this workshop was to train family physicians in conducting an effective patient-centred interview and help them analyse the patient’s readiness to change. 

During the workshop, the physicians developed an understanding of dos and don’ts of patient interactions and brainstormed on setting ground rules for conducting a patient-centred consultation. The family physicians practiced identification of the patient’s level of compliance and equipped themselves with the tools to make the patient adhere to doctors’ advice.

It was an interactive two and a half hours session. The participants not only appreciated the skills they learnt during the workshop but also suggested conducting similar practicums in future.