title: The nurse-patient communication: voices from nursing students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Effective communication skills have been found to be one of the pivotal factors in building positive interpersonal relationships. Little is known about nursing undergraduates' perspectives on communicating with patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to explore nursing students' perspectives and experiences of nurse-patient communication in their clinical placement.
  
  
  METHODS
  The participants included 21 second-year undergraduates and 21 first-year master's students. Interviews were conducted in Cantonese and then transcribed in Chinese and translated into English. A content analysis approach was adopted to analyze the data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five themes emerged from the interview data. 'The necessity of nurse-patient communication' reveals why the students valued nurse-patient communication. 'The conversation contents' describes the content of the conversations that students typically had with patients. The third theme is 'self-reflection on the nurse-patient communication'. The last two themes, 'the communication pattern in different hospital settings' and 'the obstacles impeding nurse-patient communication', are about the students' communication styles in different hospitals and the barriers they encounter.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To improve students' communication skills, educators and clinical staff should listen to students, enhance students' reflective skills and strengthen their confidence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Through understanding students' difficulties in the nurse-patient communication experience and the skills that they lack, educators can provide them with helpful recommendations to improve their communication skills in clinical practice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study reveal that students' nurse-patient communication skills need to be improved.
authors.affiliation: .
authors.forename: Zenobia C Y
authors.initials: ZCY
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: .
authors.forename: Claudia K Y
authors.initials: CKY
authors.lastname: Lai
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: conversation content; nurse-patient communication; qualitative study