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Therapeutic Relationship in Nursing

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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 …show more content…

Every single person has a culture, which is developed throughout their life. Culture is passed on from generation to generation; however it is never static as it is always changing and evolving to the individual’s experiences (Munoz & Luckmann, 2005). In nursing, nurses need to be aware of their own culture so that they can recognise and accept people from other cultures. This is important to help build a respectful therapeutic relationship (Stein-Parbury, 2009). Nurses who understand their own and others’ cultures are more likely to recognise differences within any cultural group. Within a large cultural group there can be numerous variations as each person in a same culture does not believe in or do the same thing (Arnold & Boggs, 2011). To the Nursing Council of New Zealand “culture includes, but is not restricted to, age or generation; gender; sexual orientation; occupation and socioeconomic status; ethnic origin or migrant experience; religious or spiritual beliefs; and disability” (Nursing Council of New Zealand, 2009, p. 7).
Language is the basic means of human communication. It is used by every culture to share information, negotiate and direct others as well as to express emotions and ideas. Therefore, a language barrier between the nurse and patient can be a serious threat to transcultural communication (Munoz & Luckmann, 2008). When caring for a non-English speaking patient, a medical interpreter is essential for providing

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