Communication skills of healthcare professionals in paediatric diabetes services

Aims To identify training needs in communication skills and to assess training preferences of staff working in paediatric diabetes services, which will inform the development of a learning programme in behaviour change counselling for healthcare professionals. Methods Three hundred and eighty‐five staff in 67 UK paediatric diabetes services were sent questionnaires to determine their previous communication skills training, to measure their self‐reported view of the importance of and confidence in addressing common clinical problems and to assess the perceived feasibility of training methods to improve skilfulness. Results Two hundred and sixty‐six questionnaires (69%) were returned from 65 services. Sixteen per cent of doctors, nurses and dietitians reported no previous training in communication skills and 47% had received no training since graduating. Respondents rated psychosocial issues as more important to address than medical issues within consultations (t = 8.93, P