A hug may or may not be acceptable. The person who has the right to make that determination is the patient. Nurses are expected to interact with patients in an empathetic way that supports the patient's healing or wellness. Nurses are not required to hug patients when patients ask for a hug.
Hugging should never be mandatory, Vejar says, but providers should recognize how much a hug might mean to patients. “It lets them know that their presence is welcome, that they are valued, that we care about them, and that they are being heard,” she says.
Nurse–patient interaction is a professional and therapeutic relationship created to enable nurses to assess, plan, and deliver health care aimed at meeting patients' basic human needs.
Nurses touch patients to perform clinical tasks, communicate caring, and ensure comfort. Consequently, nurses may touch patients in ways that would be in appropriate in another context—touching a breast when auscultating an apical pulse or the genitalia when inserting an indwelling catheter.
The answer is actually straightforward. A nurse should not enter into a friendship or other personal relationship with a patient, their family members or their substitute decision-makers. Always keep your personal and professional lives separate.
In general, examples of unprofessional conduct include, but are not limited to, physical abuse of a patient, inadequate record keeping, not recognizing or acting upon common symptoms, prescribing drugs in excessive amounts or without legitimate reason, personal impairment (mental or physical) that hinders safely ...
Nursing is stressful.
Djordjevic explains that "crying with a patient can benefit both medical personnel and patient. Firstly, because it's a cathartic experience for medical staff given they're relieving stress, and secondly, because they're able to create a more meaningful bond with their patient."
Saying sorry to a patient can be a difficult part of nursing practice. But a sincere and prompt apology, using appropriate language and tone, can help those involved come to terms with something that has gone wrong.
Quiet is a “4 letter word.” Not in the actual sense, but in the sense that it is a word that should never be uttered out loud, or even thought of during your shift. Saying “things are quiet” as you sip on a cup of coffee at your station is the equivalent of screaming fire inside of a crowded movie theatre.
Can your therapist initiate a hug? A therapist can hug a client if they think it may be productive to the treatment. A therapist initiating a hug in therapy depends on your therapist's ethics, values, and assessment of whether an individual client feels it will help them.
Hugging is a form of sexual harassment. If it happens frequently enough, and despite employee objections, it can create a hostile work environment and trigger a violation of federal employment law.
“In a clinical exam, patients consent to being touched. They haven't consented to any other intimate contact, however,” Reese writes. “Although some patients might welcome a hug, others might consider it an invasion of their personal space or a sign of attraction.
Filing a complaint
The most common complaints involve criminal convictions. Other complaints received by BRN pertain to: Improper patient care, such as, the RN has committed serious medication errors, abused a patient, or failed to provide appropriate care.
According to the American Nurses Association, the pledge was named after Florence Nightingale, who is considered the founder of modern nursing. In the pledge, nurses promise to uphold the Hippocratic oath, do no harm, practice discretion and be dedicated to their work as a nurse.
Say nothing and let it be. Calling someone on their insulting behavior, if you aren't sure it was intended, can create more problems later if you embarrass them or make them angry. Say something, but not in a confrontational manner.
While patient friend requests do not violate HIPAA, they are not recommended. Before deciding whether or not to connect to patients through social media, healthcare workers must look at their organizations policies in regards to social media.
The Journal of Medical Ethics has published more specific guidelines urging physicians never to invite a patient to become an online friend, or to accept a friend request from a patient.
Many health organizations also discourage nurses from connecting with or “friending” patients on social media. If the patients and nurses become close online there's a chance they can share personal information.