Nurse-Client Relationship: Legal, Ethical And Professional Perspectives

Nurse-Client Relationship: Legal, Ethical And Professional Perspectives

Introduction

Nurse Client Relationships

Nurse client relationship in general is based upon two aspects, which are therapeutic and professional. A therapeutic relationship can be defined as a purpose to achieve. It is goal oriented and the relationship is directed directly between the nurse and the patient. The client is always the patient who is advancing towards the better outcomes and results. Therapeutic relationship accounts for privacy and all the information should be kept in personnel keeping up the autonomy and dignity. To establish and maintain a strong therapeutic relationship is a fundamental part of nursing profession. This is also a basis to determine the competency of nurse as an individual that how they bring their actions and principles and put them into practice. The quintessence of nursing profession is entirely based upon the relationship between the patient and the nurse (Moyle, 2003).

All the registered nurses maintain and gain the therapeutic relationship with the patients to understand the demand and needs of the mentally ill patients. This makes the process easy. Two way communications between the client and nurse builds an environment which is safe and secure for both. Ethically the patient feels dependent on the nurse and the outcome becomes effective. The service protocol become safe, compliant and the competency reached the highest levels of ethical care (MacDonald, 2007).

Five common characteristic which forms the basis for therapeutic nurse and client relationship are:

Trust: nurses are believed that they work in the best of interest to cater the needs of their clients. They are trusted for providing competent, compassionate and considerate ethical care. Trust is also a fragile feeling or behaviour to handle and treat in any relationship so it is important for nurses and build and keep the patients trust. Once if it is breached than from the patient's end it becomes difficult to re-establish.

Respect: Respect is the measure of dignity, significance and individuality that every human being demands from another irrespective to which class they belong, their social standings and status values. Respect is demanded from the both the ends, from nurses as well as from patients. Nurses respect each and every patient irrespective of mental illness and health disability (NANB, 2011).

Intimacy: A committed nursing practice helps to create an environment so that the patient becomes physically, emotionally and psychological dependent on the nurse. As an integral part of recovery this is important but on the other hand it may increase the vulnerability of mental patients in particular. Professional intimacy includes the types of care and services provided by the nursing professionals. It includes physical help like bathing, eating, emotional and social dependency. In most of the cases the patient becomes psychological and emotionally attached with the nurses that it becomes difficult to maintain the nurse and patient relationship.

Fiduciary Duty: Nursing profession demand extra effort, time and energy and to cope up the needs the nursing professionals usually forget their own ...