A longitudinal evaluation of a communication skills programme

Communication is an essential component of palliative care, but patients an d their families are often dissatisfied with their interactions with health professionals. Communication difficulties are also a recognized stress fac tor among health professionals. Education and training, however, are said t o improve communication skills. A communication skills training programme f or 110 nurses has demonstrated statistically significant improvements in th e nurses' skills, but no long-term effect was evaluated. This paper present s the results of the long-term follow-up study. Of the 110 nurses contacted , 20% refused to participate, 45% agreed and 35% did not respond; 33 nurses returned usable data. The mean length of time since completing the original study was 2.5 years. Since completion of the original course there was no statistically signific ant deterioration or improvement in eight of the nine areas of assessment s kills evaluated. In the area of psychological assessment there was a statis tically significant improvement, and overall the nurses maintained their sk ills and improved in this area. The results suggest that over time the nurs es became more confident in the emotional areas of care as a result of the training. The two key elements of the training were audio-tape recordings and feedbac k, which raised self-awareness, and experiential workshops covering ways of handling difficult situations. Whether a similar training effect could be achieved by a short 3-5-day course on communication skills needs addressing , because the integrated training skills course evaluated here is costly. P reliminary evidence suggests that the 3-5-day course may not be as effectiv e, so the increased costs associated with the integrated training skills co urse may be wisely spent if it improves the quality of nurse-patient intera ction as evidence here suggests.