Tehran University Medical Journal

Background and Aim: Today, work related stress has become a common and costly problem in work places that most of studies in the last 30 decades have engaged in this problem. Several reports indicate that the occupations such as nursing which have high psychological job demands and low decision latitude are very stressful. This stress can cause harmful physical and psychological effects on nurses’ health. On the other hand, job stress may result in high rates of injury, tardiness and absenteeism at work place and reduced productivity and organizational commitment leading to low quality of nursing care. Numerous studies suggested that learning new activities and skills such as communication skills is one of the best strategies against job stress .The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of communication Skills training in reducing work stress level among nursing personnel in rehabilitation centers.

Materials and Methods: The quasi- experimental design was conducted. A sample of 48 nursing personnel participated in the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two experimental or control groups. Subjects in experimental group participated in a 7- hour’s workshop, all subjects were pre and post tested (one month later) for job stress and communication skills with the Karasek’s Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) and communication skills test.

Results: Results revealed the following: (1) subjects in both groups after pretest were the middle level of stress and communication skills. (2) After training the experimental group scored higher on the rating of communication skills than control group and had successfully maintained their improvements for 4 weeks. (3) After training the experimental group showed lower level of stress than control group and had successfully maintained their improvements for 4 weeks.

Conclusion: As a result of this research communication skills training could reduce level of stress among nursing personnel, thus. It is recommended to apply communication skills training programs for nursing personnel working at rehabilitation centers in order to assist them to coping with their job stress and improve the quality of nursing care.

Background: There is a concern by some doctors that not interrupting the patients' initial statements of concerns can lead to too long medical visits. Therefore, in this study, the duration of the patients' initial statements of concerns was studied. Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted from August to October, 2011 in the Emergency Department of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran. 100 patients entered the study through convenience sampling. Based on a 5 level triage system Emergency Severity Index (ESI), patients who were not life-threatening conditions (level 5) entered the study and critically ill patients and foreign patients were excluded from the study. Demographic data of the patients and durations the patients' initial statements of concerns were recorded and measured. Results: Fifty-six percent of patients were men. 79 percent of them had academic degree less than diploma and most of them have Persian ethnicity (60 percent). The mean age of the participants was 37.09 (SD, 1.68). The mean durations of patients' initial statements was 71.60±2.37 seconds. The minimum time was 22.51 seconds and the maximum time was 206.51 seconds. There was significant difference between age (P=0.001, r=0.382) and gender (P=0.032, df=98, t= -2.17) with the durations of patients' initial statements. But education level (P=0.996, F (2, 97)=0.004) and ethnicity (P=0.266, F (6, 93)=1.3) did not have a significant effect on the durations of patients' initial statements. Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, duration of patients' initial statements of concerns is less than what which leads to an increase the time of medical visits.