Interpersonal relations and nurses' job satisfaction through knowledge and usage of relational skills.

BACKGROUND/RATIONALE Many interpersonal labor disputes stem from the lack of communication skills and the relational problems in the interactions between health professionals. AIMS/METHODS A qualitative study was conducted in a Spanish hospital in order to get to know how the communicative interaction between hospital nurses is like in relation to the nurses' interpersonal interaction and communication skills developed in their working relationships. Twenty-one hospital nurses between 29 and 55 years old, working in different wards, were interviewed. Open-ended interview discourses were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS The following four key themes were analyzed: communication and sender; communication and awareness of who has the problem; non-verbal communication; communication and recipient. CONCLUSION The results of this study highlight the need to broaden nurses' relational-communication skills in order to increase job satisfaction.