Abstract
Background: Many patients live with communication disorders that present significant challenges during interactions with health care providers across settings. Yet, nurses receive little to no training in how to communicate with communication impaired patients.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility and acceptability of delivering the Study of Patient-Nurse Effectiveness With Assistive Communication Strategies (StudentSPEACS) program to prelicensure nursing students and to describe student clinical applications of this content in the year following the communication training.
Methods: We used mixed methods to describe student perceptions of StudentSPEACS content and application of content in clinical encounters.
Results: Junior nursing students (n = 86, 53.75%) responded to the survey. Students rated content as very valuable and rated their overall ability to communicate with patients after the training program as average. Students provided 48 clinical case application exemplars.
Conclusions: The StudentSPEACS program can help prelicensure nursing students acquire and practice communication skills with patients who have communication impairments.