Improving communication through accent modification: growing the nursing workforce

A pilot program was developed to reduce the attrition rate among nursing students, especially those in ethnic and minority groups. The presence of accents and dialects among some of these students created communication difficulties which had the potential to negatively impact both academic success and patient safety in healthcare settings. Screening processes used to identify students with reduced speech intelligibility, specific accent modification methods and other speech improvement lessons implemented to improve overall communication abilities are described. Clarity of communication improved in all pilot program students.