The relationship between caring ability and communication competence among nursing staff in Chinese tertiary hospitals: A cross-sectional and analytical study

For many years, nurse-patient communication has been a hot and challenging topic in nursing education and research. This study aimed to assess the level of clinic communication competency and caring ability among staff nurses, as well as their mutual relationships, and further explore the influencing factors of nurses' clinic communication competency. This descriptive correlational study was conducted among 1,977 staff nurses at a tertiary hospital in China from September 2023 to October 2023. A demographic questionnaire, the Caring Ability Inventory (CAI), and the Nurses' Clinic Communication Competency Scale (NCCCS) were utilized to gather data for this study. Potential participants were selected using a convenience sampling method. The total scores of NCCCS and CAI were 259.35 (SD = 32.53) and 192.21 (SD = 22.23), respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in nurses' clinic communication competency in terms of age (F = 63.291, P < 0.001), gender (t = -3.391, P < 0.001), nursing years (F = 56.212, P < 0.001), professional titles (F = 40.879, P < 0.001), and department (F = 10.151, P < 0.001). The research results of this study indicated that the stronger the caring ability, the stronger the clinical communication competency of nurses (r = 0.490, P < 0.001). Multiple Linear regression analysis revealed that department, nursing years, and CAI were significant influencing factors of NCCCS, accounting for 30.2% of the variance in nurses' clinic communication competency (F = 41.687, P < 0.001). Targeted strategies must be implemented to develop department-specific communication enhancement strategies. For instance, caring ability training should be integrated into novice nurse development, theory-practice curricula should be designed, and senior nurse mentorship with individualized guidance should be implemented. Furthermore, policy development in healthcare management may incorporate caring ability and communication competency into performance evaluations and offer incentives for nurses who demonstrate exemplary care.