COVID 19-transformed nursing education and communication competency: Testing COMFORT educational resources

Wittenberg, Elaine; Goldsmith, Joy V.; Chen, Chiahui; Prince-Paul, Maryjo; Capper, Beverly

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic brought a disruption to nurse education for both nursing faculty and students as all non-clinical nurse education courses worldwide moved to distance or online learning. The sudden shift to online education meant the loss of traditional activities for students to learn communication skills creating a critical demand for open educational resources for students and nursing faculty. Tools to support nursing faculty development for teaching communication are nearly non-existent and pedagogical content knowledge is needed. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to test two COMFORT COVID-19 Communication Modules (PPE and Video/Phone) for undergraduate nursing students and evaluate student communication competency post-intervention. DESIGN: This pre-post study includes qualitative and quantitative data collected to evaluate student communication competency post-intervention. SETTINGS: Undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students at four university campuses in the Pacific and MidSouth regions of the United States. PARTICIPANTS: BSN nursing students (n = 197) predominantly in the third year of study (n = 138, 70%). METHODS: Students completed online modules as part of a nursing course. Faculty provided information and a link to access online learning modules. A pre-post assessment was completed for each module. RESULTS: Significant statistical differences were found across variables of communication attitude, knowledge, and skill across both modules. CONCLUSIONS: As nursing education in the United States shifts to competency-based education which emphasizes skill development across the BSN program, it is imperative to establish communication learning objectives that are measurable and ensure communication theory and evidence-based practice is part of curriculum content.