BMC Medical Education (Mar 2023)

Leveraging the vantage point – exploring nurses’ perception of residents’ communication skills: a mixed-methods study

  • Komal Abdul Rahim,
  • Maryam Pyar Ali Lakhdir,
  • Noreen Afzal,
  • Asma Altaf Hussain Merchant,
  • Namra Qadeer Shaikh,
  • Ali Aahil Noorali,
  • Umar Tariq,
  • Rida Ahmad,
  • Saqib Kamran Bakhshi,
  • Saad bin Zafar Mahmood,
  • Muhammad Rizwan Khan,
  • Muhammed Tariq,
  • Adil H. Haider

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04114-6
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

Read online

Abstract Introduction Effective communication is key to a successful patient-doctor interaction and improved healthcare outcomes. However, communication skills training in residency is often subpar, leading to inadequate patient-physician communication. There is a dearth of studies exploring the observations of nurses – key members of healthcare teams with a special vantage point to observe the impact of residents’ communication with patients. Thus, we aimed to gauge the perceptions of nurses regarding residents’ communication skills expertise. Methods This study employed a sequential mixed-methods design, and was conducted at an academic medical center in South Asia. Quantitative data was collected via a REDCap survey using a structured validated questionnaire. Ordinal logistic regression was applied. For qualitative data, In-depth interviews were conducted with nurses using a semi-structured interview guide. Results A total of 193 survey responses were obtained from nurses hailing from various specialties including Family Medicine (n = 16), Surgery (n = 27), Internal Medicine (n = 22), Pediatrics (n = 27), and Obstetrics/Gynecology (n = 93). Nurses rated long working hours, infrastructural deficits, and human failings as the main barriers to effective patient-resident communication. Residents working in in-patient settings were more likely to have inadequate communication skills (P-value = 0.160). Qualitative data analysis of nine in-depth interviews revealed two major themes: existing status-quo of residents’ communication skills (including deficient verbal and non-verbal communication, bias in patient counselling and challenging patients) and recommendations for improving patient-resident communication. Conclusion The findings from this study highlight significant gaps in patient-resident communication from the perception of nurses and identify the need for creating a holistic curriculum for residents to improve patient-physician interaction.

Keywords