COMFORT: evaluating a new communication curriculum with nurse leaders

Nursing faculty face increasing instructional demands to keep pace with mounting knowledge and competency requirements for student nurses. In the context of nursing practice, tasks and time pressures detract from the high skill and aptitude expectation of communication. The communication, orientation and opportunity, mindful presence, family, openings, relating, and team (COMFORT) curriculum, an acronym that represents 7 basic nursing communication principles, has been introduced into the communication module of the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium, which currently provides the only standardized undergraduate and graduate nurse training in hospice and palliative care. This study examines the potential efficacy of the COMFORT curriculum for everyday communication challenges experienced by members of the Georgia Organization of Nurse Leaders. Participants were prompted to describe communication barriers and then apply an aspect of the COMFORT curriculum to this barrier. Responses revealed primary communication barriers with co-workers and patient/families. Nurses predominantly identified directly correlating components in the COMFORT framework (C-communication, F-family) as solutions to the topics described as barriers. Based on confirmation of extant literature addressing generalist nurse communication challenges, there is support for the inclusion of COMFORT across the nursing curriculum to efficiently and effectively teach communication strategies to nurses.