Student nurse–older person communication

There is an increasing ageing population in western countries. Most nurses will be involved in caring for older people in the future. Over the last number of years much has been written about the benefits of effective nurse–patient communication. However, research findings indicate that the quality of nurse–older person communication has been and continues to be poor. The purpose of this mini ethnography was to ascertain how student nurses communicate with older people. This is relevant as today’s students are tomorrow’s registered nurses and the manner in which they currently communicate with older person may indicate how they will interact with this population in the future. Data were collected using both participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using latent thematic analysis. Four major themes were identified from the findings. These were: Types of communication, modes of communication, factors that either hinder or enhance effective communication and student nurses’ approach to communicating with older people. There are a number of recommendations from this study. These include, promoting a person-centred approach to care of the older person, ensuring appropriate clinical supervision of student nurse–older person communication by preceptors, increasing theoretical input in relation to interpersonal skills and communication theory, facilitating reflective practice whilst students are on clinical placement and regular auditing of clinical placements as suitable learning environments.