Pharmacist Advanced Training Health Coaching | Microcredentials On-Demand 8 credit hours

This practical training prepares pharmacists to incorporate health coaching strategies into patient care interactions to support behavior change, improve engagement, and enhance long-term health outcomes.

Designed as a microcredential program, this course awards a digital badge upon successful completion and focuses on communication techniques that strengthen patient relationships and support individualized care.

The program explores how pharmacists can move beyond traditional counseling approaches by using coaching principles to help patients identify goals, overcome barriers, and take a more active role in managing their health.

Topics covered include:

  • Foundations and principles of health coaching in pharmacy practice
  • Communication techniques that support patient engagement and trust
  • Motivational interviewing and behavior change strategies
  • Goal setting and action planning for chronic disease management
  • Identifying barriers to adherence and lifestyle modification
  • Strategies for improving patient accountability and follow-through
  • Coaching considerations for patients with chronic conditions and complex care needs
  • Opportunities to incorporate health coaching into pharmacy workflow and patient care services

Pharmacists will also develop practical skills in active listening, collaborative goal setting, patient-centered communication, and supporting sustainable health behavior changes through ongoing follow-up and encouragement.

This training is designed to help pharmacists strengthen patient relationships, improve care outcomes, and expand their impact as accessible healthcare providers within the community.

Earn your microcredential and build confidence in delivering pharmacist-led health coaching services – enroll today.

Health Coaching - Pharmacist

Claim Your Badge

You will receive an email from Credly (our credential partner), after you complete the course, inviting you to claim your digital badge for Health Coaching - Pharmacist. This will allow you to easily share your achievement with colleagues, managers, and your professional network on LinkedIn and other platforms. When you receive the email, please click the button and create an account on Credly.com so that you can “accept” the badge.

Need help? Find a step-by-step tutorial video at this link.

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of this application-based CPE course, pharmacists should be able to:
1. Define health coaching.
2. Explain the differences between a coach approach vs. an expert approach.
3. Describe the evolving role of health coaching in healthcare and pharmacy practice.
4. List the key components of the health coaching process.
5. Recognize how to establish trust and build rapport within a coaching relationship.
6. Identify the role of empathy in the coaching relationship.
7. Describe the importance of cultural humility in health coaching.
8. Review the skills of reflective listening and open-ended inquiry.
9. Discuss the use of appreciative inquiry and building self-efficacy in health coaching.
10. Describe the six stages of change in the Stages of Change Model.
11. Recognize the role of motivational interviewing in behavior change.
12. Explain the guiding spirit of motivational interviewing and its person-centered approach to behavioral change.
13. Review the four fundamental tasks of motivational interviewing.
14. Express how effective listening skills improve communication and engagement with patients.
15. Identify an individual’s readiness and “language of change” in pursuing a specific action.
16. Summarize the importance of differentiating between “change talk” and “sustain talk” in modifying behaviors.
17. Discuss OARS and its role in enhanced patient interactions.
18. Describe how to give information in a more effective manner using Ask. Offer. Ask.
19. Evaluate a patient’s readiness for health behavior change in a coaching session.
20. Examine the coach’s ability to establish rapport, trust, and a patient-centered atmosphere during a coaching session.
21. Differentiate evidence-based strategies to support behavior change and action planning in a coaching session.
22. Determine the SMART goal elements in a coaching session.
23. Analyze a coaching session to identify social determinants of health (SDoH) and their impact on client outcomes.
24. Review health coach credentialing options for pharmacists.
25. Explain strategies to operationalize health coaching within a community-based pharmacy.
26. Describe how to document the outcome of a pharmacy-provided health coaching encounter.
27. Summarize an appropriate billing strategy for a pharmacy-provided health coaching service.

Faculty

Elizabeth Skoy, PharmD

Nora Stelter, PharmD

Disclosures:

Nora Stelter has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.

Becky Lang, EdD, DH, RMCHES

Disclosures:

Becky Lang has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.

Betthany (Beth) Thomas, PharmD, RPh

Disclosures:

Betthany (Beth) Thomas reports she is an employee of Medtronic (Diabetes Unit). All relevant financial relationships have been mitigated.

Wendy Mobley-Bukstein, PharmD, BCACP, CDCES, CHWC, FAPhA

Disclosures:

Wendy Mobley-Bukstein has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.

Madeline Clark, PharmD, MBA

Disclosures:

Madeline Clark has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.

Laura Rhodes, PharmD, BCACP

Disclosures:

Laura Rhodes has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.

Course Details