Exploring the Perceptions of Undergraduate Pharmacy Students’ Communication Skills to Facilitate Better Professional Decision-Making in the UK

<b>Background</b>: Pharmacy professionals have an important role in delivering patient-centred care, with effective communication skills forming the foundation of interactions with patients. This study aimed to explore how pharmacy students perceived their own communication skills; along with the communication skills education and training experiences in their undergraduate pharmacy degree in the UK. <b>Methods</b>: A 22-item questionnaire was designed and piloted before being distributed online. Snowball sampling was employed to recruit participants undertaking an undergraduate pharmacy degree. Quantitative statistical and qualitative thematic analysis was conducted. <b>Results</b>: A range of pharmacy schools were represented in the data set (n = 10) with 217 responses collected. Participants rated their communication skills highly (53.03%, n = 114), but stated they still required improvement (79.72%, n = 173). A proportion of participants stated that they could appropriately make professional decisions (52.08%, n = 100) and that their communication skills had facilitated their professional decision-making skills (57.89%, n = 110). Effective teaching methods reported included role play with peers (80%, n = 156) and small-group teaching sessions (64.10%, n = 125). Participants felt that interprofessional education and simulated patients could help improve their communication skills further. <b>Conclusions</b>: Communication education is a crucial element in developing future healthcare professionals. Thus, investment in resources is required to facilitate communication skills in the earlier stages of the undergraduate pharmacy degree.