Interpersonal Communication Strategies in Adult Inpatient Nursing Care and Patient Experience: A Scoping Review
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Interpersonal Communication,
Nursing Role,
Patient Experience,
Therapeutic Communication
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Alma Ananda Alieva Noor Wahyudina
Maria Komariah
Raini Diah Susanti
Abstract
Background: Nurses’ interpersonal communication is a critical determinant of care quality, yet the optimal strategies for improving the adult inpatient experience have not been comprehensively mapped.
Aims: This scoping review aimed to map nurses’ interpersonal communication strategies and evaluate their impact on the experiences of adult inpatients.
Methods: Guided by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) framework and reported according to the PRISMA-ScR guidelines, a systematic search was conducted across EBSCOhost, PubMed, and Scopus for articles published between 2016 and 2026. Eligibility was determined using the Population–Concept–Context (PCC) framework, covering nurses and adult patients, interpersonal communication strategies, and acute inpatient settings.
Results: Six studies with heterogeneous designs met the inclusion criteria and were grouped into three themes: (1) structured communication and educational curricula; (2) nonverbal adaptation and visual aids; and (3) communication directionality and patient involvement in decision-making. Structured communication approaches were associated with more favorable patient-reported satisfaction outcomes, whereas one-way communication was linked to a markedly higher risk of negative interactions these preliminary patterns emerged from a small, heterogeneous evidence base.
Conclusion: This mapping suggests that interpersonal communication appears to be an important component of patient-centered clinical care. The available evidence indicates that structured strategies may enhance satisfaction, whereas systemic barriers such as heavy workloads and power imbalances can foster one-way communication. Given the limited and heterogeneous evidence, these patterns should be interpreted cautiously, and improving the patient experience is likely to require integrating structured communication with workload management to support patient-centered care.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Alma Ananda Alieva Noor Wahyudina, Maria Komariah, Raini Diah Susanti
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