The Dynamic Nurse-Patient Relationship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Dynamic Nurse-Patient Relationship - Essay Example This essay discusses Orlando’s nursing model, the dynamic nurse-patient relationship, and analyzes how this theory can be applied to nursing practice at the individual, family/group, and community/population levels. Introduction Ida Jean Orlando formulated her theoretical models of nursing in relation to her theory of dynamic nurse-patient relationship, and expanded them to involve the distinctive role of nursing in patient care. She examined the aspects that reinforced or hampered the incorporation of mental health doctrine in the curriculum of basic nursing. She developed the dynamic nurse-patient relationship model to provide nursing practitioners a model of efficient nursing practice. She investigated nursing patient care on medical-surgical settings, not individuals with psychiatric disorders in psychiatric facilities (Orlando, 1961). She recognized three aspects of nursing practice: the uniqueness and creation of nursing knowledge, the professional role of nurses, and th e relationship between nurse and patient. A nursing context comprises the patient’s behavior, the nurse’s response, and all that does not alleviate the patient’s suffering. Patient distress is associated with the failure of the person to satisfy or express his/her needs. Orlando’s Nursing Model The dynamic nurse-patient relationship is derived from the assumption that the relationship between the nurse and patient is mutual, which means that the behavior or decision of one influence the other. Orlando (1961) argues that the nursing role is different from the medical role and that the response of nurses is based on the urgent needs, demands, and experience of the patient. Basically speaking, the theory claims that nursing is one-of-a-kind and autonomous because it focuses on the need of an individual for help or support, actual or probable, in an urgent condition. The manner by which nurses relieve this vulnerability is reciprocal and is performed in a clo sely controlled or profession way that requires education and expertise. Orlando (1961) argues that one’s behavior or response must be derived from reason, not set of rules. Her theory is regarded to be an interactive model for it suggests a particular practice of planned, purposeful one-to-one nurse-patient relationship to reinforce the best nursing care intended to take care of a patient’s needs. The nursing process is activated by the behavior of the patient. The behavior of a patient, regardless how trivial, should be seen as a call for help. Patient behavior could be expressed verbally and nonverbally. When a patient needs something that cannot be met without the aid of another person, vulnerability or helplessness arises. If the behavior of a patient does not clearly express a precise description of the need, then setbacks in the relationship between the nurse and patient may occur and make it hard for the nurse to sufficiently deal with the need of the patient. A better understanding, appreciation, or resolution of incapable patient behavior becomes a main concern for the nurse for the condition will probably deteriorate sooner or later and make sufficient care, or the delivery of required assistance or support, more and more problematic. The response, decision, and behavior of the nurse are aimed at alleviating unproductive patient behavior and satisfy urgent needs as well. Patient behavior triggers a nurse response, which is the beginning of the nursing process. Proper or correct nurse response is composed