Acceptability and Efficacy of a Communication Skills Training for Nursing Students: Building Empathy and Discussing Complex Situations

Abstract Nurses must demonstrate effective communication across complex interpersonal domains, as emphasized by numerous professional healthcare organizations. However, formal communication skills training has been only modestly integrated into baccalaureate nursing programs, and of those studied systematically, there are notable methodological concerns. The current study focused on application of a well-researched communication program [PROGRAM NAME] to student nurses completing summer internships at a comprehensive cancer center as part of their clinical education. The [PROGRAM NAME] training program for student nurses is an in-person, day-long training that includes three sections: responding empathically to patients; discussing death, dying, and end-of-life goals of care; and responding to challenging family interactions. Student nurse participants provided strongly favorable perceptions of the program, with 90% indicating that they agreed or strongly agreed with all perception items. A significant pre- to post-training improvement in self-reported confidence was observed (p