The assesment of problem solving and communication skills of nurses and nursing students

Nurses as well as nursing students are expected to use their problem-solving skills effectively in meeting the needs of patients. This study, which is planned to be descriptive, aims to assess the problem-solving and communication skills of nurses and nursing students, and to make suggestions to improve these skills. The research was carried out in Istanbul, on 170 nurses working at a university hospital and two private hospitals, and on 413 students studying at the school of nursing. Nurse Information Form, Student Information Form, Problem-Solving Inventory, Scale of Interpersonal Relation Dimensions were used for data collection. Required permissions were obtained from the institutions as well as the permissions to use the scales. For the statistical analysis of the data, SPSS was used. Problem-solving and communication skills of the nurses and the nursing students was found to be moderate. When compared to the students, nurses? averages of Problem-Solving Inventory and the Empathy sub-dimension of the Scale of Interpersonal Relation Dimensions were found to be higher. Communication skills of the nurses who reported having the following qualifications were found to be higher: single, in the middle-income level, working as a head nurse, having a close friend, reading regularly, not using computer, and having had a training on communication and stress management. The students who reported having spent most of his/her childhood in a city, reading regularly, and doing sports were found to have better problem-solving skills while the students who reported being female, considering himself/herself as having a good academic success, having a close friend, reading regularly were found to have better communication skills. It is advised to enrich the curriculum of nursing schools so as to improve problem-solving and communication skills of students, and to improve problem-solving and communication skills of nurses by in-service training programs clinical case discussions and scenario studies.Key words: Nurse, nursing students, problem solving, communication