Teaching Workplace Interprofessional Communication to Undergraduate Nursing Students

Background: Patient safety may be compromised by ineffective communication. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing's Baccalaureate Nursing (BSN) Essentials state that effective communication skills are vital for nursing students to deliver safe patient care. Method: Faculty developed materials-including trigger videos-to teach nursing students effective communication in response to difficult workplace conversations. Students were surveyed after instruction and viewing scenarios demonstrating difficult conversations. Students prepared smartphone videos using scripting and received feedback from faculty and peers. Results: Increased comfort in addressing difficult conversations was noted for communication following medication errors (p = .011) and bullying (p < .001) scenarios. Students were likely to report delegation issues (p < .001) yet were less sure about reporting medication errors (p < .001) or bullying (p < .001). Students were less likely to use avoidance in addressing bullying (p = .015) but were unsure if they would avoid addressing medication errors (p = .004). Conclusion:The project provided innovative strategies to teach effective communication to nursing students.