Empowering Key Players: A Pilot Intervention to Improve Nurses’ Perceived Confidence and Ability to Utilize Palliative Care Communication Strategies (QI818)

Abstract

•Verbalize two palliative care communication techniques that are effective for improving nurses' perceived confidence and ability in communication skills.•Identify strategies associated with successful implementation of a 1-hour educational course on palliative care communication techniques. Effective communication is an important aspect of healthcare for patients requiring inpatient oncology and palliative care (PC) services. Inadequate communication decreases patient satisfaction and increases adverse patient outcomes. Registered nurses (RNs) are uniquely positioned to improve communication with patients and patient families. However, research shows that most RNs have not received PC communication training and feel insufficiently prepared to communicate with patients and patient families. The purpose of this pilot intervention was to provide RNs with PC communication education in an effort to increase RNs’ perceived confidence and ability to communicate with families and care providers about complex PC topics. The project took place on two oncology step-down floors in a large academic medical center. The project consisted of six 1-hour educational sessions offered to RNs. The educational sessions consisted of didactic instruction on PC communication techniques and role-play simulations. For 6 weeks following the sessions, project investigators performed unit rounding to reinforce PC communication skills. To evaluate outcomes, a previously validated Likert-scale survey was utilized in a pre-intervention/post-intervention design. A numerical point value was assigned to each potential response on the survey Likert scale. Twelve RNs (n = 12) completed the pilot intervention. Overall pre-intervention to post-intervention aggregate mean survey scores increased by 10.3 points (p < 0.01). Self-perceived ability increased by an aggregate mean of 8.9 points (p < 0.01), and self-perceived confidence increased by an aggregate mean of 1.42 points (p = 0.10). This pilot project supports that an economical 1-hour educational session on PC communication techniques followed by educational reinforcement through unit rounding can successfully improve RNs’ perceived ability to utilize PC communication skills. Implications for future research includes replicating this project on a larger scale and investigating correlations between increased levels of RN perceived confidence and ability in PC communication skills with patient satisfaction and outcomes.