Exploring Adverse Communication Experiences and Their Determinants Among Nursing Students During Clinical Placements

Аннотация

Effective nurse-patient communication is foundational to quality healthcare, fostering trust, improving patient outcomes, and ensuring patient safety. For nursing interns, the clinical placement period represents a critical phase for developing these essential communication skills. However, these nascent professionals often encounter challenging or negative communication experiences that can significantly impact their learning, psychological well-being, and future professional practice. This article investigates the prevalence, nature, and influencing factors of adverse nurse-patient communication experiences among nursing interns. Drawing on a review of existing literature and outlining a hypothetical study design, we explore how individual characteristics, patient-related factors, and the clinical environment interact to shape these experiences. Understanding these determinants is crucial for designing targeted educational interventions, enhancing clinical mentorship, and ultimately supporting the holistic development of nursing interns to ensure high-quality, patient-centered care. Keywords: Nurse-Patient Communication, Nursing Interns, Negative Experience, Influencing Factors, Clinical Placement, Communication Skills, Nursing Education. environment is also fraught with challenges. Unlike Introduction: Nurse-patient communication stands as experienced nurses, interns are often navigating an indispensable cornerstone of patient care, serving as complex patient interactions with limited experience, the conduit through which empathy, information, and underdeveloped coping mechanisms, and heightened support are conveyed [1]. It is widely recognized that anxiety [4, 7]. effective communication not only enhances patient satisfaction and adherence to treatment but also plays It is during this formative period that nursing interns a pivotal role in improving health outcomes, reducing are particularly susceptible to encountering "negative medical errors, and building a trusting therapeutic experiences" in nurse-patient communication. Such relationship [1, 2]. The National Health and Family experiences can range from misunderstandings and Planning Commission (2015) in China, for instance, has patient complaints to emotional distress arising from emphasized the deepening of quality care and difficult conversations or perceived communication improvement of nursing care services, underscoring failures [4, 10]. These adverse interactions can have the importance of communication in this context [2]. profound implications, not only for the quality of care provided but also for the interns' confidence, For nursing interns, the period of clinical placement is a psychological well-being, and willingness to transformative phase, offering invaluable communicate in future clinical settings [10, 12]. Yuan opportunities to translate theoretical knowledge into (2019) specifically highlighted the importance of practical skills, particularly in the realm of interpersonal qualitative analysis of clinical communication events communication. This hands-on experience is critical for for nursing students [6]. their professional development and for meeting national standards for undergraduate professional Despite the critical role of communication and the teaching quality [3]. However, this learning vulnerability of nursing interns, a comprehensive American Journal of Applied Science and Technology 1 https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ajast American Journal of Applied Science and Technology (ISSN: 2771-2745) understanding of the nature and influencing factors of communication is vital across all healthcare settings, these negative experiences remains an area requiring including specialized areas like cancer nursing care, further exploration. This article aims to address this gap where communication culture significantly impacts by synthesizing existing knowledge and proposing a patient support [1]. framework for analyzing the determinants of adverse However, for nursing interns, mastering effective nurse-patient communication experiences among communication presents unique challenges. This nursing interns, with the ultimate goal of informing period is characterized by a "transition shock" as they more effective educational and supportive strategies. move from academic learning to clinical practice, Literature Review requiring significant adaptation to new roles and responsibilities [18]. Their clinical adaptability is a Nurse-patient communication is a dynamic and crucial factor influencing their performance and well- complex process, central to the nursing profession. being [7]. The development of core competencies, Peplau's (1952) seminal work on interpersonal including communication skills, is a continuous process, relations in nursing provides a foundational conceptual with interns often starting as "novices" in their journey framework, emphasizing the therapeutic potential of towards expertise [15, 17]. the nurse-patient relation