Successful Nurses Are Relationship Builders

What is a relationship, and why it is important.

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Successful Nurses Are Relationship Builders

What is a Relationship?

Relationship with others means connection. Just as in life, individuals cannot work together or do anything together unless they agree. A nurse can only provide meaningful care to a patient if they connect. There are many ways of building a relationship with a patient. One can connect with a patient by being present, actively listening, being hospitable, using humor, offering nursing services in a way they understand, or even telling them a story. Many nurses use different techniques to build relationships depending on the patient population with whom they are working.

Nursing is More Than Giving Medication

Contrary to what many think, nursing is an art and a science that goes beyond administering medications. A nurse with an established or developing relationship with a patient will be more successful in giving medications, teaching the patient about their medicines, and providing multiple other nursing services. Ultimately, when all parties are involved and engaged, quality care will be provided, patients will be satisfied, and security breaches will be minimized.

Presence in Nursing

Presence means just being there. As a beginning nurse, one wants to complete as many tasks as possible and absorb as much knowledge as possible. The nurse's ability to understand presence and how it contributes to the healing process grows as the nurse gains more experience. As time passes, the nurse will also learn to deliver many services to the patient in the way the patient will love to receive them while being present with them.

Active Listening

The nurse cannot provide good service when the patient perceives them as not paying attention or not holding space for them. The nurse must be non-judgmental of the patient and their situation. Patients can pick up on body language. They know when they are rushed and not given appropriate care and feedback. One way of reducing the frustrations patients sometimes face when receiving health care services is by showing that you care by actively listening to the patient.

Humor

Everyone likes a good joke; so does the patient.  Not all jokes are appropriate, depending on the culture and patient population. When present and paying attention during care, the nurse will be able to use appropriate jokes and humor to lighten the room and life of the patient. When appropriate, use laughter and watch the patient and staff heal.

Service and Hospitality

Nursing services and hospitality are intertwined. Successful nurses are friendly and incorporate principles of hospitality, such as generosity, into their work. The more cordial the environment, the more patients repeat their visits or make referrals.

Offering Nursing Services

Both parties benefit when nursing services are offered, and the patient can receive them. This can be accomplished by actively listening to their patient's stories and responding with information related to their visit while simultaneously providing the necessary services to them.

Win-Win Model

The nurse wants to win by accomplishing many tasks, educating, and rendering patient services. The patients want to win by getting well, getting helpful information about their health, and reducing the costs of their medications and visits. Finding this balance is the magic of medicine and nursing care.

All in all, nurses have a personality that makes them choose the nursing profession. These personalities and the clinical skills they are taught in school are not the only skills that will ensure success. The nurse must learn and develop other necessary skills vital for success. These techniques are the art of building relationships with various patients. Forming meaningful relationships enables the patients, nurses, and the organization to win. These skills will grow over time as nurses progress in their career path.

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Eugy

About Eugy

Eugy specializes in Med Surg, Telemetry, research nursing, and clinical nursing education. She has over twenty years of experience.

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It is amazing how time is such an important yet scarce resource in nursing. Building a patient rapport requires time. But yes, I agree with everything you wrote.

In my first nursing job, I was the nurse who did little more than give medication, do essential procedures and chart. Presence, active listening were fleeting things with my crushing patient load. The lack of time to be more than a med passer destroyed any joy of nursing and burned me out in a year. I stayed late, skipped lunch, prayed for assistance of our aides of variable quality, but there was never enough time. I knew a lot of our long-term elderly patients were lonely too, and I could never give them enough time and non-medical attention.

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Specializes in Medical.

Thanks for your reply. The fast pace of health care and the need to do more for many patients contributes to reduced quality and relationships that can improve value for all stakeholders. 

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RNperdiem said:

It is amazing how time is such an important yet scarce resource in nursing. Building a patient rapport requires time. But yes, I agree with everything you wrote.

In my first nursing job, I was the nurse who did little more than give medication, do essential procedures and chart. Presence, active listening were fleeting things with my crushing patient load. The lack of time to be more than a med passer destroyed any joy of nursing and burned me out in a year. I stayed late, skipped lunch, prayed for assistance of our aides of variable quality, but there was never enough time. I knew a lot of our long-term elderly patients were lonely too, and I could never give them enough time and non-medical attention.

Totally agree with this.  When I first started I did have the pleasure of meeting some of the more seasoned mature nurses who were about to retire.  One thing they all mentioned was that nursing had changed.  The time needed to be by the bedside to properly care for the patient had been replaced with doing task and checking boxes.  They also mentioned that it seems we are  heading in the direction of doing more with less.  

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