Adult patient communication experiences with nurses in cancer care settings: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: The patient communication experience is an important outcome measure that guides quality improvements in healthcare settings specifically in cancer care. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the patient’s communication experiences with nurses in cancer care settings. METHODS: Semi-structured face to face interviews were conducted with 21 participants who received cancer care at two Saudi Arabian tertiary healthcare facilities between Aug 2019 to Dec 2019. The study used a qualitative descriptive design. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data using six stages of Braun and Clarke. RESULTS: Four major themes were identified and a total of eleven sub-themes. The major themes were; (1) The importance of patient-nurse relationships, (2) Providing appropriate information to patients, (3) Responding to patients emotional needs and (4) Verbal communication between nurses and cancer patients. CONCLUSIONS: Some participants felt that their communication with nurses was limited, but generally, most felt that communication was acceptable irrespective of barriers such as language, culture, religion, gender, workload and healthcare preferences. Participants drew a comparison between Saudi and non-Saudi nurses as well as between nurses and doctors communication skills. They felt that Saudi nurses had good communication skills, but non-Saudi nurses were more competent in some aspects such as kindness, politeness, respectful and non-verbal communication. They also felt that doctors were more accurate in their information than nurses.