Introduction 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. …show more content…
The building of a positive relationship is described as showing warmth, respect and empathy however to provide effective communication between nurse and patient the nurse needs to be aware of and identify the patient’s physical, social and psychological barriers. A nurse can use these tools to build trust, mutual respect and confidence with the patient as these are needed for
The nurse is expected to be able to communicate effectively with patients because appropriate communication is the device which allows the nurse to understand, empower and inspire the patient, and this will help the nurse to identify the patient's concerns and needs (Collins 2009). The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC, 2008) states that patients should be able to trust the nurse with their health and wellbeing and for this to happen the care of the patient must be the nurse's first
There are several interventions nurse can implement to encourage effective therapeutic communication such as having a big smile on their face when they meet the patient, making them feel welcome. Asking the patient if they have any questions or concerns. Telling the patient that their care is priority and their safety is our concern, and their voice will be heard. Providing them enough time to express their feelings, eye contact if culturally
I believe that a therapeutic nurse-client relationship is the foundation of nursing practice in all practice settings. It focuses on the needs of clients and develops by nurses based on respect and professional intimacy. In fact, the clients trust the nurses as their dignity, autonomy and privacy are kept safe within the therapeutic relationship. In my point of view, communication is one of the most demanding aspects of a nurse’s job, and one which is occasionally done badly and cause inappropriate quality of client’s care. However, a nurse can develop therapeutic relationship by following very simple rules. For example, the nurse
Creating a safe environment, promoting trusting nurse-patient relationship, and increasing patient’s quality of life are result of implementing this theory in practice. Even though creating a change in nursing practice might be challenging, but it is doable by identifying the goal, pathway to reach the goal, education, trainings, and using evidence based practice. The main point of creating a therapeutic communication is to build a trusting nurse-patient relationship, decreasing nurse and patient’s anxiety level, increasing the level of care and patient’s quality of life. (Jasmine,
I enjoyed reading your post and agree with your comments about the nurse-patient therapeutic relationship. A trusting nurse-patient relationship is essential in nursing. Therefore, nurses should always seek to build a trusting relationship with the patient in order to improve care and have positive outcomes. Nurses should also have the ability to treat patients with dignity, respect, and compassion regardless of their personal situation or background. Patients are supposed to feel safe in the hands of nurses due to their nursing roles. They provide direct care and spend the most time with the patient. In addition, they are committed to the patient well-being and
Nurse-patient communication involves more than just words being exchanged between two or more people. Nurse-patient communication needs to exhibit feelings and recognition of those feelings so that the patient knows that their feelings have been recognized. According to this journal, most patients stated that their nurses initiated conversation, listened attentively but did not show empathy or see the situation from the patients point of view. By not showing empathy or looking at the situation from the patients point of view, patients thought that nurses did not have effective therapeutic communication skills. They also thought that the feedback from the nurses was also lacking which in return made the patients more reluctant to share information.
In conclusion, it can be identified why it is imperative for a nurse to reflect on interpersonal skills in action and on action, and how this process can be of further benefit to the therapeutic relationship. Through using the Gibbs reflective tool, I have been able to identify my strengths which includes my ability to be self-aware whilst providing effective verbal and nonverbal communications skills that are of benefit to the nurse-patient therapeutic relationship. Additionally, it also allowed me to identify my weakness such as my ability to provide information that was relevant to certain conditions. However, this will now further enable me to develop (through my implementation of action planning) in the areas that I may not have otherwise
Peplau’s interpersonal relationships nursing theory was developed to help guide nurses in building connected relationships with their patients. This bond is built on establishing trust through the foundation of effective communication. Peplau’s theory was designed so that practitioner’s could help lay the foundation for altering patient’s actions to incite acceptable improved health related outcomes. Peplau believed the nurse client relationship was established in three phases. In the first stage, the nurse client relationship begins by initiating a positive experience through introductions and understanding the needs of the patient (Senn, 2013). In order to identify the needs of the patient, the nurse must be able to have open active communication with the patient. Kourkouta and Papathanasiou (2014) reveal a nurse practitioner promotes effective communication and successful patient outcomes when nurses display sincerity, thoughtfulness, and sympathy while delivering care to patients and their families. Trust flourishes between the patient and staff when the nurse practitioner dedicates adequate time to building the relationship through empathy, understanding the patient’s needs holistically, and effective communication. The second phase to Peplau’s theory is the time where the patient becomes more actively involved in promoting actions that identify comprehension of behaviors required for health care goal attainment (Senn, 2013). The healthcare provider assist the patient
Every day nurses interact with numerous people; the most important of these are their patients. For this interaction to be meaningful and have a positive impact on the health outcomes of the patient, the nurse needs to build interpersonal connections with the patient to form a therapeutic relationship. The nurse also needs to be aware of the patient’s culture and practice in a culturally safe way when establishing this relationship. In this essay the main characteristics of both interpersonal connectedness and the therapeutic relationship will be described using relevant literature. It will then go on to describe culture and cultural differences and then finally discuss how the cultural difference of the patient speaking a different
Chambers (2005) explains that there is no set definition due to the concept being difficult to describe, with each relationship being very individualized and grounded in respect. Welch (2005) adds that it is also because the concept itself is more complex than one particular behaviour. The therapeutic relationship is more than a social relationship because of the end goal of the growth and recovery as a result (Chambers, 2005). With that said, the therapeutic relationship needs to be grounded in a social relationship in order to be effective (Chambers, 2005). Welch (2005) states that this is a relationship that brings about therapeutic effects for the patient while Chambers (2005) describes it as a relationship that the patient finds meaningful. Both of these ideas are evident in the case study provided in that the patient was unable to find meaning in his relationships with the health care team before being moved onto the eighth floor and therefore he was unable to have a positive relationship with an outcome of therapeutic effects (Punch, 2010). Furthermore, these two articles agree on the interpersonal aspect of nursing as a profession and the importance of reflecting on, discussing, and attempting to find understanding in the therapeutic relationship due to the impact this has on the patient's health outcomes and recovery (Chambers, 2005 and Welch, 2005). This relationship is mutual in the shared experience of both the health care provider and patient (Welch, 2005). This is reflected in the study by Chambers (2005) in that both the nurse and patient must share information to improve the mutual learning experience. The course content in nursing school focusses heavily on forming and maintaining a therapeutic relationship with patients,
Based on my understanding of the above situation, I should preserve the ability to establish and maintain relationships with my patients. This an important component of nursing care in across all practice settings and healthy therapeutic relationships can impact the health of the patient. However, I need to improve my ability to successfully terminate the nurse-patient relationship. I recognize how crucial this phase is to the therapeutic relationship and maintaining boundaries. According to the literature review, the ability to successfully terminate the relationship is something that must be developed with practice and clinical experience. Since every nurse-patient relationship is different, each relationship requires a different approach
Drawing on the interviewee’s experience and knowledge, we identified the importance of building a professional relationship with patients through interacting and getting to know their needs. From this interview I have observed that the satisfaction of a patient’s care interrelates with the success of the communication between the nurse and patient.
Should you have empathy while you’re nurse? Yes it’s the important thing you should have while you are nurse. You have to understand that you must understand their pain, good communication, being treated fairly
A therapeutic relationship between a nurse and patient requires listening with an open mind and heart, identifying their mind, body, and spiritual needs, accept differences, and believe that a patient can holistically care for themselves (McBride & Andrews, 2013). Through a holistic approach, the interaction can result in goals to implement healthy actions geared toward wellness, such as, engaging in nature and healthy eating to reduce stress. Also, my patient’s interaction during the assessment allowed me to recognize that although the patient’s belief system differed, in order to promote holistic goals, it required acceptance and caring for the patient’s individuality (McBride & Andrews, 2013). This means to reach a person, a nurse has to engage with presence of the patient and herself. It is not unusual for people to try and change another person to believe as they do be so for their benefit. This is done with thoughtful and helpful intention. But actually, the ability to become a complete person in mind, body, and soul lies within themselves and their own discovery. With a
According to the College of Nurses of Ontario (2009), “Nursing is the therapeutic relationship that enables the client to attain, maintain or regain optimal function by promoting the client’s health through assessing, providing care for and treating the client’s health conditions”(p.3). In nursing we learn how to help others by using a holistic approach. Depending on the health status of the patient, our role can be preventative, supportive, therapeutic, palliative or rehabilitative. The nurse’s role may be direct or indirect by means of education, management, administration or research (CNO, 2009). The body of nursing knowledge is fundamental of our nursing practice, which is organized and structured in various patterns. Carper (2012), identified four fundamental patterns of knowing in nursing, which includes empirics, esthetics, ethics and personal knowledge. White (2012), explored an additional knowing in nursing called sociopolitical knowing. In this scholarly paper, I would like to explain the five ways of knowing in nursing with specific example from my own nursing practice.