GOLEZ, STEFFI GABRIELLE R.

3-NUR-5 RLE: 1A

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to prove that all nurses can give better nursing care for the
patients as a means of therapeutic communication with the proper concept of Emmanuel Lévinas
theory of face-to-face interaction with the other and Hildegard Peplau’s interpersonal theory. It
means that, ethically, people are responsible to one-another in the face-to-face encounter.
Specifically, Lévinas says that the human face "orders and ordains" us. It calls the subject into
“giving and serving” the Other.

The quality of hospital nursing care has a direct impact on the quality and safety of the
patient care. Too often, inefficient workplace policies and practices prevent hospital nurses from
focusing fully on the needs of their patients, and patient care and nurse job satisfaction suffer as a
result. Communication is a multi-dimensional, multi-factorial phenomenon and a dynamic,
complex process, closely related to the environment in which an individual’s experiences are
shared. Since the time of Florence Nightingale in 19th century until today, specialists and nurses
have paid a great deal of attention to communication and interaction in nursing (Fleischer, Berg,
Zimmermann, Wüste, & Behrens, 2009). Effective communication is an important aspect of
patient care, which improves nurse-patient relationship and has a profound effect on the patient’s
perceptions of health care quality and treatment outcomes. Effective communication is the key
element in providing high-quality nursing care, and leads to patient satisfaction and health.
Effective communication skills of health professionals are vital to effective health care provision,
and can have positive outcomes including decreased anxiety, guilt, pain, and disease symptoms.
Moreover, they can increase patient satisfaction, acceptance, compliance, and cooperation with
the medical team, and improve physiological and functional status of the patient; it also has a
great impact on the training provided for the patient.

However, most studies have reported poor nurse-patient relationships. Therefore, overall,
nurse-patient communication has not led to personal satisfaction (Jangland, Gunningberg, &
Carlsson, 2009). This is due to the fact that health care quality is strongly affected by nurse-
patient relationship, and lack of communication skills (or not using them) has a negative impact
on services provided for the patients.

Thesis Statement

All nurses can give better nursing care for the patients as a means of therapeutic communication
with the proper concept of Emmanuel Lévinas theory of face-to-face interaction with the other
and Hildegard Peplau’s interpersonal theory.
Research Questions:

1.) What is Communication?

2.) What is Hildegard Peplau’s theory of interpersonal relations?
3.) What is Emmanuel Lévinas concept of face to face interaction with the other?
4.) How does Emmanuel Lévinas concept of face-to-face interaction correspond with the
nursing interpersonal relations?

Methodology

The researcher will use a definition of communication based from the interview of the
healthcare professional like nurses and doctors to be able to understand why is it really important
to have good communication with the patients. Other references such as books, articles, journals,
even online resources will be helpful to elaborate the meaning of communication.

The researcher will conduct an interview from the nurses to those who have many experiences
interacting with their patients. To be able to give some background of Hildegard Peplau’s theory
of Interpersonal relations and how it is applied in nursing care. Other references such as books,
articles, journals, even online resources will be helpful to understand the theory itself.

The researcher will conduct an interview from the Philosophy majors or professors to better
understand and to gather some examples of the application of the theory of Lévinas. Other
references such as books, articles, journals, even online resources will be helpful to understand
the theory itself.

The researcher will go to a hospital to see where the nurse will have a communication and
interaction with a patient. And to be able to know how it is communicating face-to-face with a
patient and if the effective communication affects the health care quality and treatment outcomes
of the patient.

Bibliography

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