Improving Chinese nursing undergraduates’ nurse-patient clinical communication competence in English: A study based on a target situation needs analysis

BACKGROUND: The internationalization of higher education has stimulated an ever-increasing demand for English for Medical Purposes (EMP) courses for nursing undergraduates in China. EMP courses are designed to provide learner-centered language instruction to satisfy students’ English communication needs in the future workplace. To date, far too little attention has been paid to developing a well-rounded and theory-guided nurse–patient communication teaching model based on target needs analysis in nurse–patient communication. OBJECTIVE: To develop an EMP teaching framework to improve Chinese nursing undergraduates’ nurse–patient communicative competence in clinical settings based on target situation needs analysis. METHODS: A survey of nurses' target situation needs analysis in clinical nurse–patient communication was conducted among nurses in five teaching hospitals in China. A teaching model was developed based on the survey analysis to improve nursing undergraduates’ nurse–patient communicative competence. RESULTS: A total of 411 nurses participated in this study. There were no significant differences in the overall satisfaction in target-situation communication and self-assessment in three-aspect communicative competence in clinical communication among nurses with different sociodemographic characteristics. Nurses with better self-assessment in the three-aspect communicative competence are more likely to satisfy their needs of nurse–patient clinical communication in target situation. Nurses self-reported the tasks and language skills commonly involved in nurse–patient clinical communication. A four-step teaching model was developed to respond to the findings of the target situation needs analysis. CONCLUSION: This study provides important insights into the essential role of employing and integrating a language communicative competence framework and a target-situation analysis framework in formulating a needs-driven and tailor-made EMP teaching model. Based on the previous framework, the teaching model is adapted and characterized by systematic and interconnected teaching steps, core target-situation topics, and a complete set of task forms, providing EMP instructors with operable scaffolds to help nursing students observe, analyze, practice, and assess nurse–patient communication. The study will be of significance for EMP researchers and instructors simulated to conduct further research and practice in English communication in the wider medical field.