The Process of Nurse Dedication in Patient–Nurse Relationships

Abstract

Objective: This study was conducted to clarify the process of nurse dedication in nurse-patient relationships.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 nurses working in a general hospital and the results of the interviews were analyzed using the modified grounded theory approach.

Results: Nurses concentrated on “building relationships with patients living in the community,” focused on “showing consideration for patients’ feelings,” and were devoted to “responding to patients’ feelings.” In this process, nurses also experienced “nurses’ own emotional response,” but concentrated on “personalized care” through “maintaining a nurse-patient relationship.” Accordingly, nurses tried to dedicate themselves to fundamentally “focusing on the patient.” This process was perceived as ‘fluid dedication.’

Conclusions: Nurses should be capable of assessing what is happening to patients, reflect on what is happening in their own emotional response and in the patient–nurse relationship, and rededicate themselves to patients by providing nursing care that incorporates the “nurse’s own emotional response” instead of suppressing or discarding it as a personal problem that is not related to care, and by perceiving the “nurse’s own emotional response” within the conceptual framework of involvement in the patient–nurse relationship.