title: Nurse-patient relationship: a dichotomy of expectations.
abstract: The nurse-patient relationship has traditionally been viewed as the essence of nursing practice. This paper disputes that the ideals of such a relationship occur effortlessly in nursing practice. Findings from a phenomenological study of individuals hospitalized with a depressive illness found that a therapeutic relationship did not come instinctively to the mental health nurses, and that there was a dichotomy between the close relationship expected by patients and the distant relationship provided by nurses. It is unclear whether nurses' distancing behaviour was as a result of the participant's depressive illness, a normal part of nursing practice, or whether other features such as nurses' workloads were an influencing factor. Further research is required to explore this issue.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing and Health, Griffith University, Kessels Road, Nathan, Qld 4111, Australia. W.Moyle@griffith.edu.au
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Moyle
mesh_terms: D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000628:therapy; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000379:methods