Enhancing Communication
Skills With High-Fidelity
Patient Simulation
Katherine Ingram, MSN, RN
Melinda Armstrong, MSN, RN
Presbyterian School of Nursing at
Queens University of Charlotte
Objectives
Examine the use of high-fidelity patient
simulation in teaching effective
communication with patients, families,
peers, and colleagues.
Explore the elements of Duldt’s
Humanistic Nursing Communication
Theory and the Nursing
Communication Observation Tool.
Share the findings of recent simulation
sessions during which the tool was
used.
Communication in the Clinical
Setting
What is communication?
– Process
– Exchange of ideas or thoughts
– Basic component of human
relationships
Communication in the Clinical
Setting
Why do we communicate?
– Collect data
– Convey feelings
– Initiate change
– Prevent legal problems
Communication in the Clinical
Setting
How do we communicate?
– Words
– Gestures
– Facial expression
– Proximity
AACN Communication Standard
for Establishing and Sustaining
Healthy Work Environments
Standard: Skilled Communication
Nurses must be as proficient in
communication skills as they are in
clinical skills.
Observations of Nursing Instructors
Student nurses are hesitant to…
– identify themselves
– face the patient
– make eye contact
– use touch
– allow silence
– allow patient a choice
Education Venue
Patient Simulation Lab
– Opened 8/2007
– METI Adult ECS, Peds ECS, BabySim
– PNCI
PSON commitment to simulation
– ASN, BSN, ABSN, MSN
– At least 1 scenario or 1 day per
nursing course
– Open lab practice with Vital Sim
Theoretical Framework
Humanistic Nursing Communication Theory
– 1985
– Dr. Bonnie W. Duldt (aka B. W. Battey)
– Introduce communication and human relations into
nursing
– Focus on interaction between nurses, patients, peers,
colleagues
Nursing Communication Observation Tool
– Collect data on interpersonal communication in small
groups
– Fact or Feeling?
– Hu