The Patient and the Nurses are the usual occupant of the hospital environment, the nurses takes the greater role of ensuring that every patient and patient relatives are carried along in terms of patients care which entails informing patients progress at the time of care, counseling, helping the patient to make informed decisions and as well sign informed consent at the time of need which may be referred to advocacy. Theses compose the nurse-patient relationship aspect of therapeutic care a nurse gives to every patient who happens to be in the position to receive care directly or indirectly from a particular care setting managed by a nurse.
Nurse patient Relationship is an integral part of nursing care which at most times neglected as a result of some factors which may influence an adequate and smooth nurse and patient relationship. These factors such as the patients approach to a nurse, the patients’ perception of nurses, and the patient’s perception of his/her care environment and the nurse professionalism. In most cases, nurses tend to ignore this aspect of nursing care which is however, the major determinant of patients’ acceptance of care and patients adaptability to the hospital or care environment.
The nurse needs to be a major player to ensure that a good and healthy nurse-patient relationship is established and maintained throughout the nursing periods by ensuring a balanced patient emotional status and being conversant with the skills required to create a healthy relationship. A nurse needs to know at which point to terminate a nurse-patient relationship to avoid it being detrimental to the patient.
Nurse patient relationship may be adjudged to be therapeutic and curative in a way that it care generally for the patients adaptability and acceptance which is the mind in the therapeutic aspect and have as well curative in such a way that the patient in most cases improves drastically as may be seen in the Psychiatric settings . Hence cautions must be applied in the course of every nurse patient relationship in order to apply all required measure to ensure it serves its purpose.
Nurse patient relationship draws the line between patients’ openness to nursing team and insecurity, hence affirming the need for the first time approach and professionalism from the nurses’ side. This type of relationship is only basically created to ensure that a patient participates fully in his or her care and to ensure cooperation throughout hospitalization.
Factors Influencing Nurse-Patient Relationship This can be divided in two categories viz the patients’ side and the Nurses side.
From the Nurses Side:
1. Nurses Professionalism: The professional influence of a nurse goes a long way in defining the type of nurse patient relationship to be formed between the pair. The Nursing ethical code on the Nurse and the Patients gives the Patient the upper hand but in terms of exercising and voicing their needs, however, in forming a therapeutic nurse patient relationship, the Nurse must always be in the helm of his professional traits to ensure a healthy relationship. However, the nurse must maintain standards of care towards a particular patient and still discuss the patients progress with other team member
2. Approach to a Patient : The nurse must maintain confidentiality and appear calm to the patient to gain the patients trust and cooperation at the time of initiating the therapeutic Relationship
3. Nurses Experience: The nurses Experience in initiating a nurse patient relationship must be considered when allotting a particular patient to the nurse. Experience of the nurse to handle patients differs especially in the choosing the best approach to a patient.
4. The Nurses Orientation: The nurses orientation and awareness of the need for a Nurse-patient relationship for every admitted patient is key to understanding the need for a therapeutic nurse-patient relationship
5. The nurses Awareness of patients need: A nurse should know the patients’ needs in order to direct his/her actions towards meeting them propriety which will provide a good environment to initiate a good nurse patient relationship.
From the Patient side:
1. Patients Environment: The patient’s background is one of the major areas to ascertain when establishing a nurse patient relationship. The religious background especially in a multi religious community
2. Patients Approach to a Nurse: The patient approach to nurses and a nurse is another factor which determines the level of Nurse patient relationship to be established.
3. Patients Educational Status: Patients Educational background plays a lot of role in understanding the nurses position in every care setting and goes a long way to avoid misinterpretation of approach
4. Patients personality: The patients’ personality should also be determined by the nurse in establishing the nurse-patient relationship to know if a particular nurse could be adaptable to the patients’ kind of personality and well meet the patients need in terms of professional intimacy
5. Patients perception and conception about Nurses: Patients orientation about nurses especially in African setting plays a lot of role in patient accepting the care delivered or approach made by a nurse to establish a Nurse-patient relationship. Hence the nurse must try to know and clear and misconception carried to the hospital by the patient before they commence care
Components of a Nurse Patient Relationship
According to the College of Nursing Ontario Canada, there are six basic Components of A therapeutic Nurse-Client Relationship which included:
Trust: For a good nurse-patient Relationship you be effective for a nursing care, there should be a level of trust between the nurse and the patient and the nurse plays a vital role n developing this trust.
Respect: The nurse must at all time respect the opinion and choices of the patient except when it is detrimental to care, this allows the patient to be more compliant and accepts care
Professional intimacy: The nurse must be intimate but however, in a professional manner, through the use of communication skills and judgments, the nurse psychologically ensures that the client understands their importance in the care
Significant order: The appropriate nurse-patient relationship is a kind of partnership care, where the patient and the nurse collaborate to meet the need of the client as they arise and in a prioritized manner
Empathy: Empathy is a form of understanding shown to the patient by the nurse, the nurse shows the patient that she understand the his value and as well as the patients state of well being
Power: This is the area where the nurse controls the nature of the relationship, at all times, the nurses should know and be aware that she has more power in the nurse patient relationship than the clients and knowing how to apply it without being detrimental t the patients care.
Above all the skill of communication is one basic tool utilized by the nurses in creating, fostering and maintaining a good a productive nurse-patient relationship in any care setting.
For a good Nurse patient Relationship to be significant and beneficial to a Client, the nurse shall show respect to the client and also ensure she maintains a professional boundaries in such a way that she evaluates the patients’ mental status toward the relationship at all time and ascertain when the relationship is healthy to both parties. It is important to note that the patient and the nurse can go beyond theses boundaries of a nurse patient relationship and where the boundaries has be breached, the supervising nurse evaluates his or her colleague to know if there is need for withdrawal or transfer.
Things to avoid during a Nurse Patient Relationship are:
Accepting Gift: A nurse should not accept or should avoid accepting any form of gift from a client during care , this if happens, allow the patient to develop a superior power over the nurse and as well expect a more preferential treatment from a Nurse
Timing of Care: A nurse should not stay, more than the allotted time of care with a particular patient, as this shows the nurse is partial with care and affect his professional reputation and judgment.
Performing Procedure: The nurse should not take on a particular patient on a daily basis in the name of creating nurse-patient Relationship and the nurse should not use other patient’s resources to meet up one clients need.
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