After reviewing Module 4: Lecture Materials & Resources, discuss the following;

What are potential barriers to forming an effective relationship with families?  What, if any, might be potential conflicts of interest?

Submission Instructions:

  • Your initial post should be at least 500 words, formatted and cited in current APA style with support from at least 2 academic sources. Your initial post is worth 8 points.
  • You should respond to at least two of your peers by extending, refuting/correcting, or adding additional nuance to their posts. 
  • All replies must be constructive and use literature where possible.

You should respond to at least two of your peers by extending, refuting/correcting, or adding additional nuance to their posts. All replies must be constructive and use literature where possible.

Post #1

Jenna Horgan

NUR 420

Professor Roberts

St Thomas University

February 2, 2023

Forming Relationships with Families

What are potential barriers to forming an effective relationship with families?  What, if any, might be potential conflicts of interest?

           Forming an effective relationship is mainly centered on active communication with the patient and the family. The development of an effective relationship with the families of a patient may be affected if nurses derail essential information on the patient’s prognosis. Among the potential barriers to creating an effective relationship with families in nursing are language barriers, miscommunication, conflicting beliefs on treatment, and inadequate communication time. These factors may lead to a disconnect which will hinder the creation of a proper relationship (Price et al., 2022). Nurses are aware of effective and timely communication to create an excellent relationship, but they need more time due to the workload in the healthcare setting.

            Nurses are responsible for offering care to patients with different needs based on their illnesses. Those critically ill demand more time and attention, making it difficult for nurses to find time to enhance their relationships with families. Nurses will often experience burnout and fatigue, which will lead to limited time for interaction with the families. In some instances, they are exhausted that they cannot converse to offer information to the families. Thus the insufficient time of communication will lead to miscommunication and misinterpretation of situations and the information provided.

            Another barrier that can hinder an effective relationship is the language barrier. Healthcare facilities should have a diverse workforce to limit instances where nurses encounter language barriers. Language barriers make it challenging to offer patients the care they need. In some cases, healthcare providers are unable to diagnose an illness. This issue is common in communities where there are ethnic groups who speak their native language. Without a translator present to translate and offer communication, patients and families do not meet the satisfaction they need. Developing a relationship with the families becomes a hurdle.

           `A relationship may be affected by patients and families having different beliefs compared to the healthcare services offered. Different beliefs will lead to conflict because the needs of the patient will not be met. This conflict of interest is fueled by the ignorance of the patient regarding treatment and the practitioner on ethnic stereotyping. This leads to dissatisfaction of the fam