Analysis of Improvement in Nurse Leaders' Professional Presentation Skills Following a Unique Educational Intervention

Purpose: Expert communication skills are essential for nurse leaders to effectively influence health care delivery at institutional, community, national, and global levels.  Communicating a concise message to an audience that results in complete understanding or a change in opinion is essential.  Faculty and communication experts developed and implemented an educational strategy designed to promote development of effective professional presentation skills for students in an MSN in Nursing Leadership and Administration program.  

Methods: Sixteen students in an MSN in Nursing Leadership and Administration cohort were participants in a 3-session professional presentation skills workshop.  Before the workshop, students completed a self-assessment of their perceived presentation skills effectiveness using a tool with a Likert scale ranging from 1, strongly disagree, to 5, strongly agree.  During the initial workshop session, students gave a pre-intervention presentation.  In the second session, faculty taught strategies, skills, and visual aids necessary to present an effective, efficient, and quality presentation to a professional audience. Participants gave a post-intervention presentation in the third and final workshop session.  A team of evaluators, including school of nursing faculty and a communication expert, used a standardized assessment form with a Likert scale ranging from 1, strongly disagree, to 5, strongly agree, to rate each presentation focusing on the introduction, body of the talk, visuals, delivery, conclusion, time management, and overall effectiveness.  Following each presentation, evaluators provided immediate verbal critique of the presentation.  Students in the classroom, as well as the person presenting, were also invited to participate in the critique. After completing the workshop series, students again completed the self-assessment of their perceived presentation skills effectiveness.

Results: Using a pre-test/post-test design, data from the evaluators were analyzed for changes in each subscale; introduction, body of the talk, visuals, delivery, conclusion, time management, and overall effectiveness.  Analysis of evaluator’s ratings shows statistically significant (p < .001) increases in students’ overall presentation effectiveness and for all workshop assessment subscales.  Mean scores of student’s self-assessment of the overall effectiveness of their presentations prior to the workshop was 3.07 and 3.79 at the conclusion of the curriculum.  Analysis of student self-ratings show a statistically significant (p = .008) increase in perceived effectiveness of their overall presentation skills.  Anecdotal data from graduates of the program have indicated a high level of self-confidence and skill regarding professional presentations in their work settings as well as in conference podium presentations.

Conclusion: The presentation skills workshop has added value to the MSN in Nursing Leadership and Administration curriculum.  It has advanced the goal of preparing the next generation of nurse leaders to effect important changes in the health care system.  Based on the analysis of the student and faculty outcomes for the first cohort, it is evident this unique educational intervention improved emerging nurse leaders’ presentation skills.  Based on this success, the workshop has been implemented in subsequent cohorts.  While similar results are anticipated, the workshop is continually evaluated to ensure effectiveness.