Communication is the key to understanding the emotional vulnerability of patients in critical condition. A sudden change in health experienced by these individuals due to an accident or illness can lead to serious psycho-emotional outcomes. Main objective: To conduct and evaluate an augmentative alternative communication training program (CONCETEM) for pre-hospital nurses and determine its utility and the satisfaction of the nurses. Methods: The study has an observational-descriptive design. The sample was 12 pre-hospital nurses selected by inclusion criteria. Post-training evaluation was conducted by the research team to learn whether nurses could perform the communicative intervention. Results: 100% of the nurses who underwent CONECTEM training were prepared to implement communicative intervention in the ambulance. 60% of the nurses considered that the training was very useful for improving the quality of care for critically ill patients transferred by ambulance. The nurses’ satisfaction with the communication training was ‘very good’ for 42.4% and ‘good’ for 58.3%. Conclusions: The results support the importance of Augmentative Alternative Communication training to improve outcomes in critically ill patients and reveal that nurses feel that more training is needed. La comunicación es la clave para comprender la vulnerabilidad emocional de los pacientes en estado crítico. Un cambio repentino en la salud, experimentado por estas personas debido a un accidente o enfermedad, puede causar un efecto psicoemocional como la ansiedad o el estrés postraumático. Objetivo principal: Evaluar un programa de formación en técnicas de comunicación básica y asistida (CONECTEM) para enfermeras pre-hospitalarias y conocer la utilidad y la satisfacción percibida del programa de formación. Métodos: El estudio presenta un diseño observacional-descriptivo cuasi experimental. La muestra fue de 12 enfermeras pre-hospitalarias seleccionadas según los criterios de inclusión. Se realizó un test post formación para evaluar los conocimientos adquiridos de las enfermeras. Resultados: El 100% de las enfermeras que realizaron el entrenamiento en CONECTEM fueron aptas para implementar la intervención comunicativa en la ambulancia. El 60% de las enfermeras consideró que la formación fue muy útil para mejorar la calidad de la atención en los pacientes críticos trasladados en ambulancia. La satisfacción percibida por las enfermeras de la formación CONECTEM, fue muy buena en un 42,4% y buenas, en un 58,3%. Conclusiones: Los resultados respaldan la importancia de la formación en técnicas de comunicación asistida y alternativa (CAA) para mejorar las curas integrales al paciente crítico y ponen de manifiesto la necesidad de formación en comunicación de las enfermeras de pre-hospitalaria.

Background Communication is key to understanding the emotional state of critical care patients. Objective To analyze the effectiveness of the communicative intervention known as CONECTEM, which incorporates basic communication skills and augmentative alternative communication, in improving pain, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in critical care patients transported by ambulance. Methods This study had a quasi-experimental design with intervention and control groups. It was carried out at 4 emergency medical centers in northern Spain. One of the centers served as the intervention unit, with the other 3 serving as control units. The nurses at the intervention center underwent training in CONECTEM. Pretest and posttest measurements were obtained using a visual analog scale to measure pain, the short-version State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to measure anxiety, and the Impact of Event Scale to measure posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Results In the comparative pretest-posttest analysis of the groups, significant differences were found in favor of the intervention group (Pillai multivariate, F2,110 = 57.973, P < .001). The intervention was associated with improvements in pain (mean visual analog scale score, 3.3 pretest vs 1.1 posttest; P < .001) and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (mean Impact of Event Scale score, 17.8 pretest vs 11.2 posttest; P < .001). Moreover, the percentage of patients whose anxiety improved was higher in the intervention group than in the control group (62% vs 4%, P < .001). Conclusion The communicative intervention CONECTEM was effective in improving psychoemotional state among critical care patients during medical transport.