Communication skills training for nurses: Is it time for a standardised nursing model?

Clinical communication: A core clinical skill that underpins quality cancer care

“…15 Much of this literature is based on the medical workforce, but recent studies show that nurses report similar challenges. 16,17 Increasingly, there has been a focus on the importance of team communication, and the negative impacts of incivility on clinical performance, as well as clinician well-being. 18,19 Most health care systems show that communication continues to be one, if not the most, important areas that result in a complaint being made.…”

“…26 Some in the nursing profession have expressed concern that patient-centered care may be eroded as the focus moves to more technical or task orientated approaches. 16,17 There is a significant variation in how communication skills are taught in undergraduate nursing degrees and an even wider variation in how this is embedded in professional development. 16 Despite this clearly being described in the key competencies of advanced practice roles there is very little written about how they acquire these skills.…”

“…16,17 There is a significant variation in how communication skills are taught in undergraduate nursing degrees and an even wider variation in how this is embedded in professional development. 16 Despite this clearly being described in the key competencies of advanced practice roles there is very little written about how they acquire these skills. 16 Knowing the wider psychosocial context of people experiencing cancer can fundamentally change the care they receive, yet clinicians often miss these critical cues about people's concerns.…”

“…16 Despite this clearly being described in the key competencies of advanced practice roles there is very little written about how they acquire these skills. 16 Knowing the wider psychosocial context of people experiencing cancer can fundamentally change the care they receive, yet clinicians often miss these critical cues about people's concerns. 27 In addition to increasingly evolving workforce roles, how we deliver healthcare is changing, and the deployment of Telehealth during the COVID pandemic is a striking example.…”

“…Despite the nursing profession representing the largest number of health care professionals, there is a relatively sparse literature 30 on which communication skills they require and how best they should be taught at scale in the postgraduate oncology setting. 16 There is encouraging work to show that we can and should teach these skills to nurses at the organization scale if we truly want to achieve a cultural tipping point. 31,32 The emerging literature would suggest that to do this at scale will require a blending learning approach that incorporates knowledge of frameworks and microskills, the ability to embed reflective practice about our communication, experiential opportunities to actually refine these skills, and last, a way to consolidate them in our busy clinical practice.…”