Patterns and Influencing Factors in the Nurse-Patient Relationship in Hospitals' General Wards: An Integrative Review.

The review is limited to general somatic wards in Western countries and to adult patients without cognitive impairment, communication problems or specific relational needs, so it may not apply to intensive care, emergency, psychiatry, homecare, nursing homes, paediatrics, dementia, delirium, psychiatric disorders or non-Western settings. Many included studies were of moderate or low quality, and the dataset included theoretical papers, a position paper and one quantitative study, so the themes are not robust evidence. Selection decisions may have underrepresented emotionally connected and emotionally detached relationships because research on trust, dignity, difficult behaviour or aggression was not included, and grey literature was excluded. The review describes experiences and relationship patterns, not tested interventions or patient outcomes, so it cannot show that a relationship pattern improves care results.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest and have nothing to report in the ethics statement. Funding is named as Hague University of Applied Sciences.

Do not read this as proof that friendly contact improves patient outcomes. It is a review of experiences and relationship patterns, not a trial testing an intervention, so it cannot show that doing these things will change clinical results.