Nurse-patient communication skills in Northern Ireland--the educational problems

Northern Ireland forms a discrete province within the U.K., with its own National Board (forming part of the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting) and its own training syllabus. This study is an appraisal of the current state of teaching nurse-patient communication skills in the province's six colleges/schools of nursing. Questionnaire samples were taken and analysed from student nurses (251), nurse tutors (35) and clinical teachers (36) in order to: (i) elicit the specific responses of both students and teachers concerning their perceived value of teaching/learning communication skills and (ii) to establish the existing satisfaction/dissatisfaction levels within the province on the current teaching practice of these interpersonal skills.