Nurse-patient interaction in primary nursing

The purpose of this study was to examine the nurse-patient interaction. During the study the nursing staff adapted primary nursing and changed multiple level communication model into a simplified one. The data were collected in the medical ward using nonparticipant observation both before the implementation of primary nursing and after. The content of recorded interactions were analyzed according to the initiator, type of communication, level of interaction and topic of discussions. Nurses engaged in more interactions and the quality of the nurse-patient interaction improved in some extent after the implementation of primary nursing. Interaction was evidently more profound, reciprocal information exchange. Only slight differences is seen in the patient's participation, the topics of discussions and in the activities during interaction.