Assessing the Nursing and Midwifery Students Competencies in Communication With Patients With Severe Communication Problems

The impact of communication education provided with creative drama method on midwifery undergraduates

INTRODUCTION

This study was carried out to evaluate the impact of communication education provided by using creative drama method on the communication skills, selfesteem, and organizational conflict resolution skills of midwifery undergraduates.

METHODS

The research was conducted as a semi-experimental 'controlled pretest-posttest' method. The study was carried out with freshmen studying midwifery at a public university in Western Turkey (n=52) between 30 September and 30 December 2017. Data were collected by means of the Communication Skills Inventory, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory-II. Throughout the research process, a 12-week lesson plan covering the stages of the creative drama method was applied. During the collection of the data, the scales were applied to the group as pretest, posttest while dependent t-test was applied for analyzing purposes.

RESULTS

Communication Skills Inventory behavioral communication skills created a significant difference between Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale self-esteem subscale scores (p>0.05). No significant difference was detected among the Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory sub-dimension mean scores (p>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Findings obtained from the research reveal that the creative drama method effectively develops communication skills, self-esteem, and conflict resolution skills for midwifery undergraduates.

Systematic review of measurement properties of self-reported instruments for evaluating therapeutic communication

A systematic review was carried out to examine measurement tools of therapeutic relational communication, using an electronic search of the following databases: PubMed, LILACS, CINAHL, CiberIndex, Scielo and Scopus. The project followed the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis and the protocol recommended by the Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) panel. Thirteen instruments were included in the review. and their measurement properties were tested. The most common communication elements found in the measuring instruments were: empathy, respect, listening, contact, communicative competence, communication quality, and communication skills. Studies that used a theoretical foundation were based on patient-centered humanistic models. Empathy, respect, controlled contact, and other basic elements of interpersonal communication were most commonly found among the measuring regents. In conclusion, this review analyzed the theoretical foundations of the components of instruments used to measure therapeutic relational communication in the nursing field.

A tool for assessing the quality of nursing handovers: a validation study

AIM

Handover, in particular between two shifts, is a crucial aspect of nursing for patient safety, aimed at ensuring continuity of care. During this process, several factors can affect quality of care and cause errors. This study aimed to assess quality of handovers, by validating the Handoff CEX-Italian scale.

METHOD

The scale was translated from English into Italian and the content validity index was calculated and internal consistency assessed. The scale was used in several units of the San Paolo Teaching Hospital in Milan, Italy.

RESULTS

A total of 48 reports were assessed (192 evaluations). The median score was 6, interquartile range (IQR) [5;7] and was not influenced by specific (p=0.21) or overall working experience (p=0.13). The domains showing the lowest median values (median=6, IQR [4;8]) were context, communication, and organisation. Night to morning handovers obtained the lowest scores. CVI-S was 0.96, Cronbach's alpha was 0.79.

DISCUSSION

The Handoff CEX-Italian scale is valid and reliable and it can be used to assess the quality of nurse handovers.