The Effect of Nursing Communication Skills Training on Satisfaction of Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis

Background: Communication skills of nurses include two important verbal and non-verbal communication dimensions and have of great importance in hemodialysis patients. This study aimed to investigate the effect of nursing communication skills training on satisfaction of patients undergoing hemodialysis.

Methods: This quasi-experimental (pretest and posttest design) was carried out on 64 nurses working in the dialysis ward and 90 hemodialysis patients in the hospitals affiliated with Alborz University of Medical Sciences. In this study, nurses and patients were selected by convenience and randomized sampling methods, respectively. In this regard, subjects were selected from the hemodialysis wards of Bahonar, Rajaei and Shariati hospitals in Karaj.

Results: Most nurses were female (76.7%) and the age range of the participants was 23-54 years. Nurses achieved a high score in all dimensions of communication skills and a high total score of communication skills after the intervention, and none of them obtained a low score. There was a significant increase in nurses' communication skills after the intervention, compared to before the intervention (106.98±4.18 and 117.97±3.35) (P<0.001). Moreover, the results showed a significant change in nurses’ perception after the intervention in various dimensions of communication skills, such as ability to receive and send messages, emotional control, listening skills, nurses' insight into the communication process and assertive communication skills, compared to before the intervention (66.90±5.15 and 95.62±5.34) (P<0.001).

Conclusion: Studying communication skills in the form of educational workshops could increase these skills in nurses and clinical personnel in general. More importantly, improved communication skills in nurses could increase patient satisfaction, which is the ultimate goal of healthcare centers.