Nurse Bait: Strategies Hospitalized Patients Use to Entice Nurses Within the Context of the Interpersonal Relationship

Abstract

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.