A Quality Improvement Project to Improve Nurse-Patient Communication and Patient Satisfaction in Outpatient Center

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Poor communication brings troubles to patients' understanding of their diagnosis and nursing care, which can jeopardize patients' treatment and prognosis. Streamlined nurse-patient communication interventions are proved to improve patient satisfaction and nursing care quality. Guided by the Plan-do-Study-Act Quality Improvement Model, we used the Contact, Introduce, Communicate, Ask, Respond, and Exit (CICARE) communication mode aimed at improving nurse-patient communication and patient satisfaction in our outpatient center. Methods: Nurses in the center were trained on CICARE communication mode in the 1-month training sessions. They incorporated the CICARE communication mode into their routine nursing practices for all outpatients. Data were collected before implementation of the project and at 1-month post-implementation, between October 2023 and March 2024. The CICARE communication mode utilization rate, nurses' communication knowledge, practice skills, and ability, and the patient satisfaction rate were measured. Results: A total of 28 outpatient nurses attended the education training sessions. The utilization rate of the CICARE communication mode was 86%. Compared to before training, nurses' communication knowledge, practice skills, and ability, and the patient satisfaction scores improved significantly after training (P