Nurse bait: strategies hospitalized patients use to entice nurses within the context of the interpersonal relationship.
Patients on medical-surgical and psychiatric inpatient units long for more and deeper connections with nurses. Patients' dependence on the nursing staff, as well as their perceived powerlessness, creates a situation where patients believe they have to actively find ways to seek needed nursing care. This paper will describe active strategies used by medical-surgical patients to entice nurses within the context of the nurse-patient relationship; strategies designed to mitigate vulnerability and increase interpersonal connection. Implications for nursing practice and for Peplau 's Theory of Interpersonal Relations will be presented.
Shattell
Mona
M
University of Alabama-Birmingham, School of Nursing, Birmingham, Alabama, USA. shattell@uab.edu
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D032763:Behavior Control; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012919:Social Behavior; D014481:United States