The importance of the nurse-patient relationship

Tie quality of the nurse-patient relationship is under threat from the more techiical skills the nurse is having to carry out. The relationship has always been regarded as the 'essential' aspect of nursing, but is now being ignored in the race to get patients through the system. With the introduction of mobile operating rooms and 'quick fix' surgeries, there is a danger that patients will be treated more inhumanely than ever before.

Peplau (1988) stated that nursing is an 'interpersonal' process and often a 'therapeutic' one. She always maintained that although some of the actions of nurses were technical, the interpersonal skills of the nurse were the most important part of the nursing role. Peplau stressed that interpersonal interactions between a patient and a nurse often have more of an effect on the outcome of a patient's problem than many routine technical procedures. Although people may respond adequately to their health problems and hospitalization, there are many patients who find it difficult to...