OBJECTIVE This study examined mothers' and fathers' perceptions of effective and ineffective communication by nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) environment, using communication accommodation theory (CAT) as the framework. METHODS Twenty mothers and 13 fathers participated in a semi-structured interview about their perceptions of effective and ineffective communication with nur...

BACKGROUND Physicians require specific communication skills, because the face-to-face contact with their patients is an important source of information. Although physicians who perform work disability assessments attend some communication-related training courses during their professional education, no specialised and evidence-based communication skills training course is available for them. Th...

BACKGROUND Telehealth professionals require advanced communication skills, in part to compensate for lack of visual cues. Teach-Back is a best practice communication technique that has been recommended but not previously evaluated for consumer telehealth. We aimed to implement Teach-Back at a national maternal and child health telephone helpline. We describe the intervention and report telenurs...

OBJECTIVE Stepwise description of the development of a post-graduate communication skills training programme for medical specialists focused on patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS) to improve specialist interaction with MUPS patients. METHODS Using the 'intervention mapping approach' we accomplished a needs assessment (literature study and pilot) to formulate intervent...

BACKGROUND Internal medicine residents are largely unprepared to carry out end-of-life (EOL) conversations. There is evidence that these skills can be taught, but data from randomized controlled trials are lacking. PURPOSE We studied whether a day-long communication skills training retreat would lead to enhanced performance of and confidence with specific EOL conversations. We also studied th...

BACKGROUND Family planning programmes in developing countries need a better understanding of nurse-patient communication in order to improve the quality of counselling. OBJECTIVES To identify factors in the clinic and in the community that enable nurses and patients to communicate effectively with one another. DESIGN The study explored the personal experiences of nurses and patients who com...

PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH There is increasing recognition of the importance of good communication between healthcare professionals and patients facing cancer or end of life. In England, a new national 3-day training programme called 'Connected' has been developed and is now mandatory for all cancer and palliative care professionals. This study aimed to explore the attitudes of staff in one region...

Although communications competency is recommended by the American Dental Education Association, only a few (n=5) dental schools report evaluating students' skills using a competency examination for communication. This study used an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) to evaluate dental students' competency in interpersonal and tobacco cessation communication skills. All students we...

INTRODUCTION The moment when a physician raises the possibility of discontinuing palliative chemotherapy at the end of life is a critical moment in the illness, and a difficult conversation. Expert recommendations cite the importance of giving bad news in these situations but there is limited research addressing how physicians should discuss transitions in goals of care from disease-modifying t...