Article Text
PDF
Abstract
Aim Increasing attacks on healthcare personnel in India have highlighted the need for improved communication between staff and patients. Currently, communication skill workshops target doctors and nurses, overlooking a key player relevant to patient satisfaction—allied health professionals (henceforth, AHPs). This study evaluates the impact of communication skills training for diagnostic laboratory and blood bank personnel on patient satisfaction scores.
Method The impact of communication workshop for AHPs was tested through pre-workshop and post-workshop questionnaires to participants that tested how they handle communication with patients. Additionally, participants were also administered the questionnaire 4 months after the workshop to test knowledge retention. In parallel, the change in patient satisfaction towards AHPs was assessed by a pre-workshop and post-workshop patient survey.
Results Participants experienced a statistically significant improvement in communication skills, as measured by the pre-workshop and post-workshop questionnaires. This coincided with a significant increase in patient satisfaction scores after the workshop, as indicated by the patient satisfaction survey. The difference in communication skills scores between experienced and inexperienced personnel showed a marked decrease after the workshop, suggesting that such workshops can help inexperienced workers ‘catch up’ with more experienced workers. However, scores of all participants showed a statistically significant decrease after 4 months, suggesting that the use of such workshops can be enhanced through periodic refresher courses.
Conclusion Communication workshops for AHPs can play a crucial role in improving patient–hospital relations. These workshops can also help standardise services by bridging communication skill differences between experienced and inexperienced staff.
- workplace violence
- communication skills
- patient satisfaction
- AHPs
- laboratory personnel
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Footnotes
Contributors JP conceived the study. All authors designed the study. JP and RRP carried out the workshop and tests. RRP collated the data and CMT performed the statistical analysis. The manuscript was drafted by JP with inputs from RRP and CMT. All authors had full access to all the data in the study and can take responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the data analysis. All authors interpreted data critically reviewed and approved the manuscript.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.
Patient consent for publication Not required.
Ethics approval The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Research Ethics Committee at Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Medical College.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data sharing statement No additional data available.