Reconceptualizing the Nurse-Patient Relationship

Hagerty, Bonnie M.
Patusky, Kathleen L.

Bonnie M. Hagerty, RN, PhD, CS, Rho, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, Kathleen L. Patusky, RN, PhD, CS, Lambda, Consultant, PsyMentor Associates, Canton, MI, and Lecturer, School of Nursing University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.

Correspondence to Dr. Hagerty, 2352 NIB, School of Nursing, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted for publication July 24, 2002.

Journal of Nursing Scholarship 35(2):p 145-150, Second Quarter 2003.

Purpose:

To review assumptions inherent in the nurse-patient relationship as historically described and practiced, and to propose an alternate framework for nurse-patient interaction that is congruent with current health care environments.

Organizing Constructs:

The theory of human relatedness and the nurse-patient relationship.

Methods:

Analysis of assumptions inherent in the current theoretical and empirical literature on nurse-patient relationships and evidence from observation of nurses engaged in practice. Proposal and discussion of the theory of human relatedness as an alternative model for conceptualizing nurse-patient relationships.

Conclusions:

The theory of human relatedness framework provides new insights and opportunities for assessment, intervention, and research within the context of nurse-patient relationships.