Examining the relationship between communication skills of nurses working in primary care and their professional satisfactions

Aim: This study was conducted to examine the relationship between communication skills of nurses working in community primary care and their professional satisfactions. Material and Method: This descriptive study was conducted September 2016 – January 2017. The population of this study included 158 nurses working in Palandoken, Aziziye, Yakutiye CHCs, and FHCs affiliated to these centers. The sample of this study comprised 111 nurses who agreed to participate in the study. This study collected data from CHCs and FHCs nurses, with face-to-face interview method, using the Questionnaire Form including nurses' information about age, sex, educational status, marital status, income level, professional experience year, socio-economic level, the Professional Satisfaction Scale, and the Communication Skills Inventory. To assess data, this study used frequencies, percentages, correlation analysis, regression analysis, Durbin Watson test, t-test, Kruskal Wallis H test, Dunnet T3 Post Hoc test, Mann Whitney U test. Result: This study found no statistically significant relationship between nurses' professional satisfaction scale and communication skills inventory, between the suitability to the qualifications dimension of the professional satisfaction scale and the mental dimension of the communication skills inventory. However, it was also found that there was a poor positive statistically significant relationship between the dimension of suitability to qualifications and the emotional dimension, and a very poor relationship between communication skills inventory total scores and behavioral dimensions. This study determined a low level significant relationship between the communication skills total score variable of the communication skills inventory and nurses' professional satisfaction (R=0.436, R2=0.191, p<0.05). Conclusion: According to study results, there is a statistically significant relationship between professional job satisfaction and communication skills. It can be suggested to perform and maintain trainings for nurses in their workplaces to improve their communication skills, and to encourage them to participate in these trainings. Keywords: Nursing, communication, professional job satisfaction