Barriers to Developing the Nurse-Patient Relationship in Operation Room: A Qualitative Content Analysis

Introduction: Nurse–patient relationship is a fundamental element of nursing care. However, many factors inhibit relationship development. The purpose in this study was to explore barriersto nurse-patient relationship in theoperating room. Method: A descriptive, qualitative study was conducted by means of semi-structured interviews with ۱۶ participants (۸ nurses, ۷ patients,and ۱ relative), and ۱۴ field notes and observationsuntil data saturation. The data were analyzed through conventional qualitative content analysis. Results: The emergent theme was the "complex and dynamic nature of relationship development". This themeconsisted of four main categories: "complexity of humanbehavior", "the nature of operating room nurse’s job", "different conditions for creating a relationship", and "neglecting and marginalizing a relationship". Conclusion: This study provided a better understanding of nurse-patient relationship inhibitors in the operation room an issue that is often neglected in quantitative studies. Based on the results of this study, the development of policies and strategies to increase nurse-patient relationships in the operation rooms are necessary.

Keywords:

Nurse-patient relationship , Therapeutic relationship , Barriers , Operation room , Qualitative content analysis