Nurses’ clinical communication skills

Abstract Background: Providing nursing care involves an interpersonal relationship between the nurse and the patient which is created through communication. The importance of clinical communication skills is a current priority when it comes to health care workers’ education and training and has been attracting more and more attention. As a consequence clinical communication skills are now present in more and more academic programmes. Objectives: To assess nurses’ clinical communication skills; to identify the variables that might inluence the clinical communication skills; to analyse nurses’ perspective regarding the training in the clinical communication ield. Material and methods: Quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive and correlational and crosssectional study. We used the questionnaire to collect socio-demographic and professional data, and the Clinical Communication Skills Scale based on the Kalamazoo Consensus Statement (KCS)1,2 and which had already been used in Portugal.3 The sample was formed by 275 practitioner nurses who have been working in health care institutions located in the center of Portugal. Results: The Scale we used presents 5 factors that explain 64.33% of the total variation: To in‑ volve the patient; To facilitate dialogue; To understand concerns; To communicate in an asser‑ tive way; To carry out the interview. The majority of the nurses consider that the training they had in the communication skills ield during their nursing course was good or very good, however we could see that 23.3% think it was mediocre. Almost all of them (98.9%) agree that there should be a better and more speciic training in the ield of clinical communication skills as far, as nurses as concerned. Nurses who had training in this area, older nurses, those who work directly with patients and those who have been working for a longer period of time show better communication skills. Conclusion: Although they think that the training they has was good, we could conirm that there was a deicit in nurses’ clinical communication skills and that nurses themselves refer they need more training in this area. Data point out to a more signiicant investment in clinical communication as far as nurses’ training is concerned and they suggest the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities in this area.

Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) improved communication skills of student of Pharmacology in Medicine and Podiatry degree.

Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) improved communication skills of student of Pharmacology in Medicine and Podiatry degree. Bellido I, Blanco E, Gomez-Luque A. D. Pharmacology and Clinical Therapeutic. Medicine School. University of Malaga. IBIMA. Malaga, Spain. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) are versatile multipurpose evaluative tools that can be utilized to assess health care professionals in a clinical setting including communication skills and ability to handle unpredictable patient behavior, which usually are not included in the traditional clinical exam. To designee and perform OSCEs by student is a novelty that really like to the students and may improve their arguing and planning capacities and their communication skills. Aim: To evaluate the impact of designing, developing and presenting Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) by student in the communication skills development and in the learning of medicines in Medicine and Podiatry undergraduate students. Methods: A one-year study in which students were invited to voluntarily form groups (4 students maximum). Each group has to design and perform an OSCE (10 min maximum) showing a clinical situation/problem in which medicines’ use was needed. A clinical history, camera, a mobile-phone's video editor, photos, actors, dolls, simulators or whatever they may use was allowed. The job of each group was supervised and helped by a teacher. The students were invited to present their work to the rest of the class. After each OSCE performance the students were encouraged to ask questions if they wanted to do it. After all the OSCEs performances the students voluntarily answered a satisfaction survey. Results: Students of Pharmacology of Medicine degree and Podiatry degree, N=80, 53.75% female, 21±2.3 years old were enrolled. 26 OSCEs showing a clinical situation or clinical problem were made. The average time spent by students in making the OSCE was 21.5±9 h. The percentage of students which were satisfied with this way of presentation of the OSCE was 89.7%. Conclusion: Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) designed and performed by student of Pharmacology of the Medicine and Podiatry Degree improved their communication skills.

Clinical skills and communication in nursing students

Abstract Background: Communication is a basic tool in nursing, a crucial element of care. The quality of the interactions that take place between the nurse and the user/family influence their satisfaction and security felt with the care received. Objectives: To identify the communication skills and interpersonal relationship of nursing students in health care; identify the sociodemographic and academic variables influencing communication skills and interpersonal relationship of nursing students in health care. Methodology: Quantitative study, cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire with questions concerning the socio-demographic and academic characterization; basic skills of interview and clinical communication in health care; learning of clinical communication skills and range of communication skills and interpersonal relationship. The sample consisted of 374 nursing students from two Portuguese schools. Results: The majority were female (80.5%), in the age group of 18-21 years. The students recognize the importance of clinical communication skills and interpersonal relations in nursing practice (82.4%); agreed on the teaching methods of communicational skills (54.3%). Evaluated their training in the area as good (71.7%). Age, semester and school influenced communication skills and interpersonal relationship of students (p <0.5) Conclusion: The results obtained allow us to state that the education / training of nursing student in the relational context is of fundamental importance in building capacity for competent professional practice.

Communication skills in blind children: a preliminary investigation

Background: There are anecdotal reports that blind children sometimes use language inappropriately, but there has been no recent systematic investigation of the communication skills of children with congenital blindness. The aim of the present study was to conduct a preliminary investigation of the communication skills of a group of children with congenital blindness. Methods: The parents of eight congenitally blind children completed the Children's Communication Checklist-2. Results: The checklist ratings showed that the communication profiles of a large proportion of the group warranted clinical investigation or were indicative of a communication disorder. Conclusions: The results from this preliminary investigation support the need for a larger study on the communication skills of children with congenital blindness.

Benefits of communication skills training after real patient exposure

The established communication skills training (CST) curriculum consists of continuous education, frequent practice with real patients, supervision and feedback from medical teachers. The limitation of this curriculum is that students have to directly apply the theoretical basis they are provided with to real patients. To improve the existing CST curriculum a CST module involving simulated patients was introduced in order to develop more complex communication skills.

Using the WWW to teach undergraduate nurses clinical communication

On-line learning is increasingly being used in nursing education. Nevertheless, there is still insufficient evidence to demonstrate: whether students respond positively when this form of learning is used to teach relatively practical or clinical subjects; whether it is effective; and whether it is fair to students with less access to, or familiarity with, computers and the internet. In 2003, an on-line Unit on clinical communication was developed for Australian undergraduate nurses in partnership between an Australian School of Nursing and the a Department of Clinical Psychology. Students were overwhelmingly positive in their evaluation of the Unit although some regretted the lack of face-to-face contact with tutors and peers. The best aspects of the Unit included the content and structure being perceived as interesting, fun and informative, the relevance of the material for them as nurses, flexibility to work independently, promotion of critical thinking and gaining an understanding of client issues. Neither their evaluation nor their final grades were related to students’ age or whether they preferred on-line or traditional learning. Students who had readily available computer access, however, had better final grades. Also, students’ grades were correlated with how often they accessed the Unit.

Exploring an innovative educational approach to facilitating student nurses' clinical-reasoning skills in North Sulawesi Province, Indonesia

This study examined the effect of an educational intervention utilizing principles of cognitive apprenticeship on students’ ability to apply clinical reasoning skills within the context of a purpose-built clinical vignette. A quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control-group design was used to evaluate the effect of the educational intervention on students’ accuracy, inaccuracy and self-confidence in clinical reasoning. This study makes an important contribution to nursing education by providing evidence to understand how best to facilitate nursing students’ development of clinical reasoning.

Maintaining student engagement in a multidisciplinary allied health communication skills course

Effective communication is an important graduate capability for allied health students but there are few opportunities for students to engage with these skills in a dedicated manner at an undergraduate level. This paper reported on the use of active learning and relevance-building strategies to maintain student engagement in a multidisciplinary allied health communication skills course at an Australian university. Students (N = 736) completed an engagement survey during the first and final lecture. While most degree programs reported no difference in engagement across semester, nursing/paramedic students reported a significant decrease in student engagement. A perceived lack of disciplinary relevance may account for student disengagement in this group, illustrating the challenge of delivering an authentic learning experience whilst engaging students from diverse degree programs.

Accounting Undergraduates’ Perceptions of Cooperative Learning as a Model for Enhancing their Interpersonal and Communication Skills to Interface Successfully with Professional Accountancy Education and Training

To interface effectively with professional accountancy training, accounting educationalists should ensure that they turn out graduates who possess the interpersonal and communication skills required of today's accountant. Attainment of these skills is promoted by group work. However, little empirical evidence exists to help academics make an informed choice about which form of group learning enhances interpersonal and communication skills. This paper addresses this deficiency by comparing perceptions of skills enhancement between accounting students who experienced traditional or simple group learning and those who undertook cooperative learning. The findings reveal that the cooperative learning cohort perceived their learning experience to be significantly more effective at enhancing interpersonal and communication skills than that of the simple group learning cohort. This study provides evidence that cooperative learning is a more effective model for delivering interpersonal and communication skills than simple group learning, thereby creating a more successful interface between academic accounting and professional accountancy training.

History taking and clinical examination skills from a stoma nurse’s perspective

Comprehensive history-taking and clinical examination skills are examples of role development for a stoma care nurse specialist. Comprehensive history-taking is a thorough exploration of a patient's presenting complaint and the gathering of subjective information, while clinical examination is the gathering of objective information from a head-to-toe assessment or a focused assessment of a particular body system. This paper demonstrates the application of comprehensive history-taking and gastrointestinal clinical examination skills by the stoma care nurse in a clinical community setting, and explores their advantages and disadvantages in stoma care practice.

Using dramatic activity to enhance Junior Core French students' motivation and oral communication skills /

Junior Core French students' motivation to learn a second language and students' French oral communication skills relating to drama instruction were investigated in this study. Students' increased and improved motivation and oral acquisition were measured by several forms of data collection including journals, questionnaires and surveys, interviews, outside observer and teacher observations, and anecdotal comments. The results indicated that as a result of drama integration in the Junior Core French classroom, grade 5 students, both male and female, were more motivated to participate in second language instruction, thereby increasing and improving their oral communication skills. The findings showed that more males than females reported that drama integration allowed them the opportunity to use their French speaking skills. Research shows that interactive approaches to teaching such as drama give students the motivation and enthusiasm to learn.

Research and Communication Skills

A Collection of Material for Research and Communication Skills