Nurse’s Communication Skills Training in Practice Essay

Abstract
This paper formulates and hypothetically develops a research project for publication in the Journal of Advanced Nursing. The project that has been developed relates to how communication skills training for nursing professionals can be used to improve patient satisfaction with the quality of care provided in inpatient settings.

Introduction
The research project will be submitted to the “Journal of Advanced Nursing” due to the journal’s commitment to advance knowledge and understanding of contemporary issues facing professional nurses in work-related contexts (Journal of Advanced Nursing, 2016).

Additionally, the level of credibility attached to the journal is high due to its stringent peer review mechanisms and focus on sound scientific, theoretical, or philosophical research papers. Lastly, the journal has a huge impact factor, as witnessed by numerous citations of articles published in the nursing journal by other scholars and professionals (van Teijlingen & Hundley, 2002). Nurse’s Communication Skills Training in Practice Essay

The Journal of Advanced Nursing accepts papers that are consistent with the APA formatting guidelines and relevant to the promotion of contemporary nursing perspectives. The papers must also not only adhere to the standards of journalistic integrity and excellence but also have a clear scope on the issues addressed and the methodologies used by the researchers to arrive at their conclusions. Papers that are accepted for publication include clinical reviews/application papers, quality improvement studies, original research, systematic reviews, and letters to the editor (Information for Authors, 2016). The general rule is that such papers must add scientific value to the nursing profession and/or apply evidence-based practice in addressing various nursing issues. Nurse’s Communication Skills Training in Practice Essay

Research Steps
Title of Project
The title of the project is “An Investigation of how Communication skills Training for Nursing Professionals Improves Patient Satisfaction Outcomes in Inpatient Settings.”

Problem Statement
Although effective communication has been associated with positive patient outcomes such as increased satisfaction with care and compliance with treatment and management interventions, patients in healthcare settings continue to experience serious communication challenges in their relationships with nursing professionals and other healthcare providers (Findik, Unsar, & Sut, 2010). The result is that patients become dissatisfied with the care provided by health professionals, leading to problems such as noncompliance with care, treatment apathy, negative attitudes on care plans, and inability to contribute in making decisions that affect their health (Johnson, Gorman, Morse, Firth, & Rushbrooke, 2013). Nurse’s Communication Skills Training in Practice Essay

Purpose of the Project
The project aimed to investigate whether patients’ assessment of the quality of care had improved after nursing professionals engaged in ward-level care delivery were exposed to a two-week in-service communication skills training program.

Research Question
The study was guided by the following research question: can in-service communication skills training improve patient satisfaction with regard to the quality of care provided in inpatient settings?

Hypothesis
It was hypothesized that scores on the patient-rated satisfaction questionnaire would reflect the greater ability for nursing professionals to communicate more effectively upon exposure to the two-week communication skills training course when compared with nurses who were not exposed to the course.Nurse’s Communication Skills Training in Practice Essay

Methodology
A quantitative research approach and a cross-sectional research design were adopted to investigate the patient’s perceptions of satisfaction with the quality of care after nurses completed the communication skills training course. The convenience sampling technique was used to select patients (N=120) for participation, who were later grouped into an intervention group (n=60) and control group (n=60).

Steps in Implementing the Project
Twenty (20) nurses were selected to undergo an in-service communication skills training course over a two-week period. The course included components of symmetry and asymmetry interactions, patient-focused communication styles, language and cultural proficiency, non-verbal communication cues, and augmentative communication methods (Smith & Pressman, 2010). After the successful completion of the course, the nurses were assigned to the intervention group for a period of three months. Nurses who provided care to the control group of patients were not exposed to the course. Nurse’s Communication Skills Training in Practice Essay