The 'difficult' nurse-patient relationship: development and evaluation of an e-learning package

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Education
• Psychology

Background:

• Difficult nurse-patient relationships are common in clinical settings.
• Existing strategies often blame patients, reducing nurse confidence.
• There is a need for effective educational approaches to manage these relationships.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate an educational strategy for nurses to improve management of difficult nurse-patient relationships.
• To enhance nurses' knowledge, skills, and confidence in handling challenging patient interactions.
• To reduce nurse stress associated with difficult patient care situations.

Main Methods:

• Action research approach involving nurses in a generalist setting.
• Development of an e-learning package using scenario-based learning.
• Quasi-experimental design to evaluate the educational intervention.

Main Results:

• Significant increases in nurses' knowledge and skills regarding difficult nurse-patient relationships.
• Demonstrated improvements in nurse confidence in managing challenging interactions.
• Significant reduction in nurse stress, as measured by the 'difficult patient stress scale'.

Conclusions:

• An e-learning strategy using scenario-based learning is effective for improving nurses' ability to manage difficult nurse-patient relationships.
• This approach empowers nurses to reflect on their behavior and enhance patient care.
• The intervention successfully reduced nurse stress and improved confidence in challenging care situations.