title: Reconceptualizing the nurse-patient relationship.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  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.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  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.
authors.affiliation: 2352 NIB, School of Nursing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. bmkh@umich.edu
authors.forename: Bonnie M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Hagerty
authors.forename: Kathleen L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Patusky
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003142:Communication; D004645:Empathy; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D016294:Models, Nursing; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009742:Nursing Theory; D009769:Object Attachment; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing; D012945:Social Values; D013997:Time Factors; D035502:Trust