Communication Skills and Its Related Factors Among Medical Staff

Background: Communication skills are the main features in health care. Objectives: The current study aimed at determining communication skills and its related factors among medical staff. Methods: The current cross sectional study was conducted on 302 medical staff of hospitals (physicians, nurses, midwives, and paramedics) in 2014, Hamadan city, Iran. The subjects were randomly selected from each hospital proportional to population size. Demographic information and the Burton communication skills (verbal, listening, and feedback) were completed using questionnaires. For all of the communication skills, scores 6 to 14 were low, 15 to 22 moderate, and 23 to 30 were considered high. Collected data were analyzed with SPSS version 22 using descriptive tests, Kruskal-Wallis test, t-test, and regression analysis. Results: Subjects gained 19.22, 17.50, and 19.20 average of communication skills including verbal, listening and feedback, respectively. Medical staff communication skills were at moderate level. There was a significant difference between the scores of feedback skills (P = 0.001) and verbal skills in different educational levels (P = 0.018). Also, the verbal and feedback skills in the group of midwives were more than those of the others (P < 0.001). Conclusions: The levels of communication skills among medical staff were not high. Communication skills training should be done at the time of recruitment and for vocational retraining.