Teach-Back Training for Nursing Students: Knowledge and Beliefs After Training for Health Literate Communication.

ABSTRACT: For nurses to communicate effectively, they must understand how patients obtain, understand, and use health information to make health decisions, that is, their health literacy (HL) level. A gap in teaching HL communication skills exists in nursing curricula. This study explored nursing students' knowledge and beliefs about HL communication before and after an HL training. Analysis revealed a significant increase in knowledge after training (Mpre = 9.00, Mpost = 9.89), t(36) = 3.75, p < .001. Participants (84.6 percent) used teach-back technique with simulated patients and identified additional training as an aid to skill building.

Health-Literacy Training for First-Year Respiratory Therapy Students: A Mixed-Methods Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: Respiratory therapists (RTs) should communicate with patients in a way that leads to patients understanding their discharge plans and medical device instructions. The teach-back method is a patient-centered, health-literate technique that allows health care professionals to confirm patient understanding. The purpose of this mixed-methods pilot study was to measure the use of teach-back by first-year undergraduate RT students in a simulation-center experience after a 1-h teach-back skills training. METHODS: First-year RT students' health literacy knowledge and belief in communication skills were measured using a pre- and post- survey about their knowledge and beliefs. A 1-h health literacy and teach-back skills training lecture (ie, intervention) was delivered after the pre-testing. RT students were then assessed for teach-back use during a regularly scheduled simulation center experience. Their experiences were recorded in a semistructured interview immediately after the simulation-center experience. RESULTS: 14 of 20 RT students used teach-back in the simulation center. Knowledge scores increased from 8.278 to 8.944 postintervention, and the median scores for belief increased from 111 to 117 postintervention. There was a statistically significant postintervention increase in knowledge scores (P < .001) and in communication belief scores (P = .038). Thematic content analysis revealed 2 primary themes for teach-back use: to confirm patient understanding and to confirm proper use of medical devices. Teach-back was not used due to the discharge scenario used in the simulation center, due to the student forgetting and/or being nervous, due to how engaged the patient was, or due to individual communication style. CONCLUSIONS: Results from our pilot study indicate that RT students may benefit from a 1-h health literacy and teach-back skills training. Furthermore, we identified reasons why the teach-back method was not used and determined what communication training students perceived would be helpful. Our findings can be used to help improve and implement communication skills training in the RT curriculum.