Evaluation of an Education program to Improve Communication Skills among Clinic Receptionists in Baqiyatallah Hospital

Adherent to communication skills for those who work in the healthcare field is very important. One of groups who are in direct contact to health consumers are clinic receptionists. The aim of current study was to assess how an education program may improve communication skills in such group of health service providers.    

Using a randomized controlled trial, forty eight clinic receptionists were allocated to intervention and control groups. Data collection tool is consisted of a demographic section along with a communication skills assessment questionnaire. Educational intervention was held over 4 one-hour sessions using different methods such as lecture, questioning, slide and movie demonstration as well as role playing. No intervention was received by control group. Two weeks after intervention, the communication skills were assessed again and the results were analyzed by statistical methods such as Student and paired t test.

Within-group comparisons indicated that at follow up in the intervention group all communication skills’ domains have improved significantly compared to baseline (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in term of these skills in control group from baseline to follow up. Despite existing no significant difference in term of communication skills between groups at baseline all communication domains except for “interpretation & clarification” and “encouragement & persuasion” have improved considerably in the intervention group compared to controls.

Short-term educations on communication skills through a confined number of sessions may enhance use of communication skills among clinic receptionists. So, it is suggested that effectiveness of such programs are assessed in other healthcare providers.