Hildegard Peplau's Interpersonal Relations Theory

Hildegard E. Peplau and Interpersonal Relations Theory
Introduction
Nursing theory provides the basics for nursing practice and makes it more meaningful. Nursing theory is necessary for the nursing profession because it serves as a foundation for nursing knowledge, enhances nursing practice and strengthens the focus of care. It helps guide the nursing practice and provide the framework that supports in decision making, planning care and interpreting evidenced-based data and evaluate outcomes. Many well-known nursing theorists made an impact in the nursing profession. This paper will discuss nursing theorist Hildegard Peplau and her theory of interpersonal relations.
Credentials and Background
Hildegard Peplau was born in Pennsylvania in 1909. …show more content…

During the duration of all phases of care, the nurse and the patient can interact and work together jointly. The nurse and the patient individually and together, grow as a result of working together to meet goals. The communication is enhanced between the nurse and the patient. Peplau also believed the nurse should have self-awareness at all times to adequately care for the patient and promote the patient’s health growth in a forward direction. “She placed many demands for reflection and change on the nurse as on the patient. The nurse had to know her/himself as well as he/she did the patient” (D'Antonio et al., 2013, p. 312). Complete self-awareness fostered a growing and trusting relationship with the patient. Finally, Peplau had implicit assumptions stated in her book …show more content…

In today’s practice, the relationship between the patient and the nurse has become very crucial in patient’s care. If the nurse is able to have a good rapport and build trust with the patient, the patient will be more inclined to be forthcoming with personal information which helps the nurse gather more insight on the patient. In most nurse-patient care settings, the three phases of care take place. Depending on the type of nursing and environment will depend on the length of each phase. For general medical-surgical nursing, the nurse will initiate the orientation phase at the beginning of the shift or before receiving an admission. The nurse reviews the patient’s chart, introduces self to the patient, gathers information through assessment, involves the patient in goal setting through nursing diagnosis and planning, and establishes rapport. As care continues throughout the shift, the second phase is in work. Nursing interventions are taking place; the patient is responding to nursing care and working towards successfully reaching goals that were set during orientation. The patient and nurse are working together to validate and evaluate goals, promoting health forward as the patient’s condition improves. In the final phase of resolution, the nurse