Ibero-American Consensus on Communication Skills for Nursing Degree students

OBJECTIVEas a health care profession focused on caring for people, Nursing requires sound communication skills. Based on an international expert consensus, a proposal on learning outcomes in clinical communication for undergraduate Nursing education curricula in Spanish speaking countries is presented. METHODa steering committee, consisting of 5 nurses and experts in communication in health care sciences, drew up the first list of communication skills specific to the Nursing degree. Their proposal was reviewed and improved by a committee of 7 international scientific advisers. 70 experts from 14 countries were selected using a snowball sampling procedure and invited to participate in a distance modified Delphi consensus process in two survey rounds. Statistical analysis was carried out to establish the final consensus level for each item. RESULTSa questionnaire with 68 learning outcomes in clinical communications was submitted for panel assessment. In the first Delphi round, the panel reached a statistical consensus on all the items assessed. There was no need for a second round to reconcile positions. CONCLUSIONan academic proposal, approved by a high level of international consensus, is presented to guide and unify the learning outcomes on the clinical communication curriculum for undergraduate Nursing studies in Spanish speaking countries.