The effect of communication skills training on the quality of nursing care of patients

摘要

Background: To achieve quality care is an important issue that is often paied attention to inproviding nursing care. It seems that communication skills can affect the quality of care.Aim: This study investigated the effect of communication skills training on the quality ofnursing care in patients.Methods: The study was a pretest/posttest experimental design with control group. 60 nursesworking in Qhaem and Emamreza hospitals were selected using stratified sampling and thenrandomly allocated to two groups, Also three patients per each nurse were selected usingconvenience sampling before and also one, two and three weeks after the intervention. Theintervention included communication skills training workshop which was held for eight hoursover two days in 2012. Data collection tools included demographic data sheet, Quality PatientCare Scale (QUALPAC) and communication skills Check list. The data were analyzed bySPSS software version 16 using t student test, Mann-Whitney, Wilcoxon and ANOVA tests.Results: The mean score for overall quality of care in communication skills training groupwas significantly higher at the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th weeks after the intervention compared withcontrol group (p<0/001). This increase was not similar in different dimensions of quality ofcare. It was 50.8% in the individual psychosocial, 63.8% in the group psychosocial, 54.4% inthe relationship, 50/6% the physical, 41% in the general and 98% in the professionaldimension. In both intervention and control group, the mean score for overall quality of caresignificantly decreased at the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th weeks after the intervention compared withpreintervention period (p<0/001).Conclusion: As communication skills training is an effective method to improve the qualityof care, it is suggested that managers and staff to consider it to improve the quality ofpatients' care.