Given the impact of personal and environmental factors on the development and manifestation of professional values in nursing students, it is upon the education authorities to take account of them in their planning, and nursing managers are also recommended to further address these factors in their development of a proper work environment, provision of standard facilities and removal of barriers.

Background:Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has established, improving communication as a priority for improving patient safety since 2006. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate nursing students’ communication abilities to recognize their strengths and weaknesses in communication skills.Method:This cross-sectional study was carried out in 2014. The study participants included all the nursing students who passed two semesters in Fatemeh School of Nursing and Midwifery in Shiraz, Iran. The students’ communication skills were assessed using a self-administered questionnaire. Then, the data were entered into the SPSS statistical software (v. 16) and analyzed using both descriptive (mean and percentage) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation and ANOVA).Results:Among the 200 students who completed the questionnaires, 58% were female and 42% were male with the mean age of 21.79 years (SD=2.14). The results of Pearson correlation analysis demonstrated a significant correlation between the nursing students’ clinical communication behavior scores and treatment communication ability scores (P<0.001). The findings demonstrated that most nursing students required improvement in their communication skills in both clinical communication behavior and treatment communication ability. Besides, a significant difference was observed among the students of different terms regarding clinical communication behaviors (P≤0.05), but not concerning communication abilities. Nursing students in higher semesters had better communication skills.Conclusions:The results showed that nursing students in this university had a moderate ability in clinical and treatment communication. Thus, paying attention to standard education, curriculum revision, and adding some specific theoretical lessons for improving communication skills are mandatory during the bachelor’s degree.

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