Date of Conferral
8-2-2025
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
School
Nursing
Advisor
Corinne Wheeler
Abstract
This staff education project was designed to enhance communication among new nurses with 2 years or less of experience in a Level One trauma center emergency department (ED). The aim of this project initiative was to enhance learners’ communication strategy knowledge and confidence by using scenario-based education via a web-based format. When ineffective communication exchanges occur with healthcare personnel, such as with new nurses, negative patient care outcomes can occur such as sentinel events. Transitional challenges such as lack of prioritization, clinical decision-making skills and low confidence can affect the new nurse’s ability to appropriate effective communication strategies into their daily care practices. Low scoring in the nursing communication domain of Press-Ganey surveys, at a health care organization in Southwest Virginia, led to the need for innovative initiatives to address this issue. In this project, to measure participants’ knowledge and confidence, analytical strategies were data comparison of pre-and post-test questionnaires, using the normalized learning gain formula, and data from a post-intervention survey utilizing a 4-point Likert scale. Findings yielded a slight learning gain increase of M=50% in participants’ knowledge and confidence in effective communication strategies. This improvement can contribute to improved patient satisfaction scores, patient outcomes and reduction in health disparities by enhancing trust within the nurse-patient relationship, especially among vulnerable patient populations.
Recommended Citation
Chambers, Anita Clark, "Enhancing Communication Among New Nurses Using Scenario-Based Education" (2025). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 18167.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/18167
