ABSTRACT
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.
