Abstract
The nurse–patient relationship is of great significance for both nurses and patients. The purpose of this article is to gain an understanding of how the individual is constituted through a focus on the execution of the patient’s and nurse’s role in the joint relationship. The article represents a social-constructionist consideration using Kenneth Gergen’s concept of multi-being. Gergen’s notions of the self as a multi-being focuses on the individual’s relational character through former relationships and social interactions. Gergen’s concept is applied onto nurses and patients as individuals to gain an understanding of the broader institutional and social context of each role and their interactions within the nurse–patient relationship. The article focuses on the nurse–patient relationship in general with regard to specific challenges in the home care setting. Various demands and experiences from a myriad of past relationships merge as potential actions for nurses and patients during the forming of a relationship. Nurses as multi-beings see themselves confronted with guidelines and legal conditions, their own as well as the patients’ expectations and the actual possible forming of a relationship in the light of daily nursing care. Patients as multi-beings experience an extended social environment that comprises the nurse–patient relationship while simultaneously having to cope with illness and increasing care dependency within their own homes. Discrepancies can be observed in the relationship with regard to the inherent human qualities, the demands of forming a relationship, and the actual relationship arising due to framework conditions.
Highlights
The nurse–patient relationship is characterized by nurses working with vulnerable individuals who are dependent on care in situations that are often intimate in nature
The multi-beings of each nurse and patient are constituted by potentials from various past relationships
The concept of nurses and patients as multi-beings has enabled a differentiated perspective in terms of their individual constitution, which has contributed towards the nurse–patient relationship in homecare
Summary
The nurse–patient relationship is characterized by nurses working with vulnerable individuals who are dependent on care in situations that are often intimate in nature. Gergen’s thoughts may derive from a psychological context they hold interesting aspects for the social and nursing sciences because his way of thinking promotes an understanding and reflection of a nurse’s and the patient’s behaviour His considerations of the individual as a relational being are fundamental to this article in terms of the further exploration of nurses and patients as multi-beings within their joint relationship. This could refer to changes in the patient’s physicality which may cause the pattern of communication and mutual understanding () to change, too It can be a challenge for informal caregivers to assess the competing demands such as personal beliefs and values, the patient’s needs and preferences as well as the anticipated helpfulness of a homecare service which leads to them having precise ideas and hopes about the nurses’ potential work (Büscher 2007). To sum up the considerations so far, it is possible to state discrepancies in the nurse-patient relationship, originating from the multi-beings’ past experiences, in regard to inherent human qualities and the demands of forming a relationship, such as guidelines or codes of conduct, and the actual relationship based on the framework conditions
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