How to stay professional and avoid emotional attachment to family/pt?

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Specializes in Home Health, Mental/Behavioral Health.

Although Im positive that i will be moving on to a different nursing field soon, i would really like some insight and feedback on this subject.

I've been involved in a home health case for about 1.5 yrs now and have most recently taken on many more hours, sort of making me the "main" nurse on the case I guess you can say. There are a few other nurses that are able to fill in 1-2 days of the rest of the hours. There have been issues staffing this case for about 6 months now.

My question is, HOW DO YOU STAY PROFESSIONAL AND NOT BECOME ATTACHED?? Or what are your experiences with this subject? If it did happen to you hiw did you recover??

There is such a thin line I feel like in this field of nursing. I feel like I've made a huge mistake by getting too close to this family and pt. I do think that my skills and judgment have remained in check. I regularly communicate with the supervising RN. I have not noticed any deficiencies in the pts well being or increase in problems. I just know that I am too emotionally invested and know that I need some guidance.

Thanks in advance

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As long as there are no requests to cross the line, you can just carry on, while keeping your guard up. But if you have been approached to do things that you should not, one too many times, or if you feel the pressure is too much, time to seek a new case.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

You are a human being, not a machine. There will ALWAYS be a certain 'attachment' when working long term in such a 1:1 role. As the above poster stated, as long as no boundaries are crossed- you are fine.

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Home health psych nurse here (2+y) weighing in. . . .if you didn't form some sort of attachment during that amt of time, you wouldn't be human. And everyone sets boundaries according to their personality AND experience. Home health is more difficult than the floor, psych hh is even worse. It can be draining to be on your toes about the boundaries. I've requested to be removed from several cases when they get lengthy for several reasons: codependancy, familiarity, flirting, lack of progress at a certain point, etc. It's tricky to remain professional and personable but those boundaries are a must for your own health and keeping your license safe. It's got to be tough love sometimes . . . The method is going to vary according to the individual PT and problem they have. You just have to keep focused on: what is the problem, how can I help solve it, and examine your own desire for seeing that person heal while artfully dodging any inappropriate stuff! Simple, huh? Not!! LoloL tricky for sure...

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Specializes in Home Health, Mental/Behavioral Health.
Home health psych nurse here (2+y) weighing in. . . .if you didn't form some sort of attachment during that amt of time, you wouldn't be human. And everyone sets boundaries according to their personality AND experience. Home health is more difficult than the floor, psych hh is even worse. It can be draining to be on your toes about the boundaries. I've requested to be removed from several cases when they get lengthy for several reasons: codependancy, familiarity, flirting, lack of progress at a certain point, etc. It's tricky to remain professional and personable but those boundaries are a must for your own health and keeping your license safe. It's got to be tough love sometimes . . . The method is going to vary according to the individual PT and problem they have. You just have to keep focused on: what is the problem, how can I help solve it, and examine your own desire for seeing that person heal while artfully dodging any inappropriate stuff! Simple, huh? Not!! LoloL tricky for sure...

Lol riiiiggght. your insight is super appreciated. The PT I have at this time has some major mental/behavior problems along with her main DX. She requires the use of retraints at times. I feel like although I'm not technically in Psych home health, I can say it weighs heavy on my heart some days. The amount of restrain it takes me to keep those lines of feeling emotionally attached to just being personable and compassionate from blurring. Unfortunately it seems like there has been a very high turnover rate since I began. I have indeed made up my mind though, for my own health and license, I need to move on to something else. I will always have a special place in my heart for cases like the one I'm at now. And ill possibly return to it or one like it in the future.

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Yes, high turnover rates will tell you alot. . . You sound like a smart person, knowing when to move on is essential.

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Specializes in GENERAL.
You are a human being, not a machine. There will ALWAYS be a certain 'attachment' when working long term in such a 1:1 role. As the above poster stated, as long as no boundaries are crossed- you are fine.

So the two concepts are not mutually exclusive as long as you remember who the client/patient is.

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