Satisfaction with hospital care at the end of life. / Satisfacción con la atención hospitalaria al final de la vida.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the satisfaction of relatives of deceased patients with the care received in a palliative care unit (PCU) and compare it with cases in which a team with specific psychological care were not involved. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An anonymous survey (n=202) was administered to the relatives (response rate, 42.1%), which evaluated 9 issues related to the process of dying and the overall assessment of the care. RESULTS: The overall satisfaction was high (mean score of 9.22); the score for the full team was 9.40, while that of the team without the psychologist was 8.40 (P=.005). The items that scored highest were "team availability", "information received" and "assistance for facing the disease", followed by "pain control", "peaceful death", "assistance for patient-family communication", "grief support" and "quality of life". CONCLUSIONS: Based on the relatives' assessment, the hospital PCU teams help increase the quality of care at the end of life.

[Validation of the Communication Skills Scale in nursing professionals]. / Validación de la Escala sobre Habilidades de Comunicación.

BACKGROUND: The Communication Skills Scale (CSS) is an instrument for evaluating communication skills in different health professionals; however, a differential analysis of their psychometric properties by professions and specific scales has not been performed. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the CSS and develop T-scores for the scale for nursing professionals. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We developed an instrumental study to analyze the psychometric properties of the CSS, evaluating its items, reliability, evidence of validity and its internal structure. For this purpose, a battery of questionnaires was administered, which included the CSS, the General Self-efficacy Scale and the Specific Self-efficacy Scale for communication in difficult situations. RESULTS: The questionnaires were applied to 692 nurses. Discrimination indices >0,30 were obtained in all items. The confirmatory factor analysis of the two models (with four oblique factors and adding a second-order factor) revealed that all items had adequate factor loadings and the fit indices of both models were good. The internal consistency was 0,88 for the total scale and between 0,70 and 0,77 for the dimensions. A positive relationship between communication skills and general and specific self-efficacy was obtained. CONCLUSION: The CSS displayed appropriate psychometric properties (item analysis, internal structure, reliability and evidence of validity), relating the communication skills of nurses with their general and specific self-efficacy in communication in difficult situations.

[Social skills in emergency and critical care professionals of a regional public hospital]. / Habilidades sociales en los profesionales de urgencias y cuidados críticos de un hospital público comarcal.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the social skills of health care professionals in the emergency and critical care units of the regional hospital Vega Baja and analyze the association between a series of sociodemographic and professionals variables and social skills. AIM: A cross-sectional, descriptive study. METHOD: Two evaluation tools were used. These included a sociodemographic and professional variables questionnaire, and the Elena Gismero's Social Skills Scale (SSS). RESULTS: A response rate of 82.6% was obtained. Considering the standards made by the author in SSS validation, it can be seen that the sample has obtained a medium-high score in each one of the aspects. Significant differences have been found when considering the sociodemographic variable gender as an independent variable with the complete score of SSS (F=6.555; p=0.013), and with the scale dimensions, self-expression in social situations (F=4.468; p=0.039) and making a demand (F=7.982; p=0.007). CONCLUSIONS: In each one of the SSS dimensions, the sample has obtained a slightly higher score than the standard sample and it within the 50-69 percentile. This indicates the existence of a medium-high level of Social Skill. The doctors score higher than the nurses, although these differences are not statistically significant.