Explain The Four Stages Of The Therapeutic Nurse-Patient Relationship

Achieving the goal as a successful nurse is not easy as it requires not only a broad knowledge but also clinical skills (Raya 2006). One of the crucial factors leading to that is learning to create therapeutic relationships between health care professionals and patients through professional communication. This is long-term training since nurses must know how to apply different communication methods to help their patients with kindness and sincerity (Varcarolis 2005). The purpose of this study is to assess knowledge of how diversified communication types are used and their efficiency in building a therapeutic relationship.

There are four phases between the nurse and the patient relationship. The phases include orientation, identification, exploitation, and resolution. In reference to the orientation phase, this is introduced by the nurse. During this phase, the nurse and the patient become familiar with one another, as well as establish a dependable relationship. The following phase, identification, starts to recognize the issues to be incorporated into the relationship. For instance, the main goal is to assist the patient in identifying his or her own responsibilities in the treatment plan, in addition to advocating for interdependence and contribution. During the exploitation phase of the nurse-patient relationship, the nurse and

As a nurse, communication is an essential and important factor to building a therapeutic relationship between a nurse and patient as it is the difference between average and excellent nursing care, as it helps maintain a good quality of life and allows nurses’ and patients to interact and provide comfort when needed. The importance of good communication can become apparent with patients especially when they are in the hospital, as it helps the nurses build a positive relationship with patients and helps overcome barriers including physical, psychological and social. A therapeutic relationship is built on many factors which include both verbal and non-verbal communication which helps maintains the relationship and strengthens it due to the positive impact it has not only on the patient’s experience but also the nurse’s.

Within nursing, there is a very delicate balance between a nurse and her patient that must be maintained if the patient is to receive the care that he or she is entitled to receive. The patient must feel comfortable trusting his nurse to hear his needs and respond to them appropriately and in order for this to be the case, the nurse must first provide therapeutic communication effective enough to elicit such a response in her patient. There are both verbal and non-verbal components within the nurse-patient relationship. These components greatly influence how a nurse and patient will relate to each other and, ultimately, greatly influence the care that the patient receives.

Series of interaction amongst nurse-patient and researcher-participant stresses the importance of relationship in an interpersonal process. The nurse-patient and researcher-participant are characterized by their own professional relationship including their own unique features in accomplishing goals. In this paper, I will examine their differences and similarities within the context of interrelationship.

Theorist Hildegard Peplau set the foundational elements for newly graduated students to introduce the importance of patient/nurse relationships into their practice (Peplau 1991). Peplau’s book is mainly directed toward psychiatric patients, but improving interpersonal skills with patients from all disciplines will create a caring, informative environments for individualized care plans (D’Antionio, Beeber, Sills, & Naegle, 2014). Also,

This theory describes the different phases that a nurse-client relationship goes through. The phases that my patient and I will most likely be working in are the orientation and the identification phases because our relationship will be new. Our interaction will focus on building a mutual trust and understanding, as well as answer basic questions as to why my patient is here and things that she has been struggling with. Depending on how long my patient has been in the program, she may be open to exploring more of her feelings and sharing more about herself with me. Focusing on developing a good nurse-client relationship will help me during my interaction with my patient and will help me understand her needs better.

Not all patients are capable of independently identifying and articulate their care needs, so the nurse also adapts the role as an advocate. Clarity and continuity in a trusting environment enables good communication. Progressive identification of needs takes place as nurse and patient communicate with one another in the interpersonal relationship (Peplau 1988, p. 84). Being considerate to the needs and vulnerability of patients is a moral attribute, as nurses are accountable for the care they deliver.

In this essay I will recall and describe my experience in a health care environment and reflect on communication in that interaction. I will look into interpersonal and communication skills used by the health professional and what I learned from this interaction. And if I am going to use those skills in my future nursing practice.

With many theories on nursing, the nurse must determine which approach is best suited to her particular skills and patient population. In 1952 Hildegard E. Peplau presented her theory on interpersonal relations in regard to nursing care and practice, providing a model for nurses to aid patients in healing and overcoming illness through personal interaction (Cherry & Jacob, 2011, p. 96).

Effective communication is a process that creates positive results for the sender and receiver. A sender is the person who is delivering a message or information and a receiver is the person who collects and interprets said message or information (Yoder-Wise, Leading and Managing in Nursing, 2015, p. 322). A nurse leader must be both a sender and receiver to achieve a productive interaction. There are three main types of communication that a nurse leader uses. These techniques include verbal communication, nonverbal communication, and written communication. Verbal communication usually happens in person or over the phone and the message is conveyed using speech. Nonverbal communication involves facial expression, eye contact, tone, and gestures. Nonverbal and verbal communication are

The nurse understands she has the knowledge of the disease process, and the patient has the knowledge of how the disease affects himself. The second phase of the relationship is the working phase, where the patient identifies who can help them with their health care problem. The nurse looks at the health care problem from the patient perspective and begins educating the patient on their health care problem, therefore the educated patient is better able to collaborate with the nurse to determine what interventions are necessary and acceptable to the patient to achieve a patient centered health related goal. The termination phase is the final phase of the theory, the nurse and the patient determine how the patient will maintain their progress and continue to work on the health care goals independently without the assistance of nursing. (Deane, & Fain, 2016).

Verbal Communication referred to as word based communication. Verbal communication can be oral as well as written for example e-mails, letters. The health care practitioner always should use appropriate language when they are working with service users and their families, colleagues. Communication is being clear, friendly and pace is suit to listener is the key to effective communication and will help to form and maintain effective care relationship ( Rasheed, 2010).

Throughout my current involvement at the nursing home, I have already realized the numerous amounts of therapeutic communication I have shared with a patient. Whether assisting someone to eat their breakfast, walking them to their bedroom or just engaging in a conversation, I have established a professional rapport between them and myself. It is crucial for a nurse to build rapport with a patient. When a patient begins to open up and is willing to share their concerns, nurses must be able to provide the correct care to comfort their needs (Jasmine, 37). By making the patient feel as though they can trust us,

The nurse reaction to patient behavior is the true beginning of the nursing process discipline. This is when the nurse uses her clinical skills to help recognize both the verbal and non-verbal communication of the patient behavior. This reaction by the nurse, described by George (2011), happens in “…three sequential parts” (p. 166). First, the nurse must be able to recognize the behavior through her senses. Once this behavior is recognized the nurse has an “…automatic thought” (George, 2011, p. 167). The “…automatic thought” then produces a “…automatic feeling” (George, 2011, p. 167). An example given in George’s (2011) writing helps better understand how this works: