EVALUATION OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS OF NURSES FROM HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS PERSPECTIVE

The ability to communicate effectively is one of the main problems of modern societies. Quality of services is powerfully related to effective communication skills. Studies showed that lack of effective communication is the main cause of dissatisfaction in health centers. This study aimed to investigate verbal and nonverbal communicational skills between nurses and patients in health and treatment centers of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. This descriptive-analytical study was performed in treatment and educational centers of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in 2002. After considering variables such as number of beds, occupancy rate, and average length of stay per patient, the estimated sample size was 383. Data were collected with a questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS. From 383 cases, 53.8% were female and 46.2% were male. 40.3% of cases were illiterate and 1.3% were graduate. Nonverbal communication skills in 12.6% of nurses were low, in 50.8% middle and in 36.6% were good. Verbal communication skills in 39.6% of nurses were low, in 46.1% middle and in 14.3% were good. Finding of this study showed that patients expect nurses to communicate more. In this study only 14.3% of nurses had good verbal communicational skills. Designing educational courses, regular watching for communication status, performing extensive investigations and evaluation of communication obstacles are mandatory.