The nurse-patient relationship reconsidered: an expanded research agenda

This article examines gaps in the available research on the nurse-patient relationship and proposes an expanded research agenda. The author's previous research comparing the physician-patient relationship in holistic health to traditional medical practice is reviewed and then contrasted with the literature describing the nurse-patient relationship. Five dimensions of the relationship are examined: affectivity, specificity, status differential, placebo salience, and trust. Most of the existing research in nursing focuses on the dimension of affectivity. Further empirical data on how each of these components is enacted in concrete clinical encounters is needed. Beyond expanding our understanding of each dimension, comparing them to equivalent attributes in other prominent models of provider-client relationships can provide further insight into those complex processes.