Aesthetic communication as a nursing education trend: Case study of teaching professional English

Abstract

A future medical practitioner is a holder of high moral qualities, possessing ethics and the method of aesthetic communication. A good command of aesthetic communication in nursing practice has a positive impact on achieving desired outcomes. The aim is to highlight the conceptual frame and the specificity of aesthetic communication for future nurses and how to implement it during the educational process. Analysis, synthesis, and systematization were used to shape the complex characteristics of developing aesthetic communication; comparative and descriptive methods were used to distinguish the effective features of aesthetic communication; the analytical method was applied to receive information about the theoretical and practical problems of developing aesthetic communication; and the Pearson test χ2 was used as a statistical method to compare and verify the obtained data. The research involved 90 students of the nursing faculty at Andrey Krupynsky Lviv Medical Academy in Ukraine, divided into experimental and comparison groups. The results showed a high level of aesthetic communication in the experimental group (42%), versus the comparison group (22%). Students’ academic performance improved in four language skills: reading, speaking, listening, and writing competence. All students demonstrated significant improvement in speaking fluently due to the implementation of aesthetic communication exercises into the teaching process. Our suggested technique for teaching a basic course, “Professional English”, in combination with an optional course, “Aesthetic Communication,” works properly and should be implemented in other higher educational institutions, as good aesthetic communication skills are crucial in building a nurse-patient relationship.