Interpersonal Relations of Nurses at their Workplace: A Study in Hospital Settings

Abstract

Hospitals represent a framework for interrelations among members of healthcare team, where doctors, nurses, paramedical, managerial and administrative staff deal with patients and their relatives as attendants in extending healthcare services. Nurses, being the first point of contact between patients and the hospitals, are a vital member of healthcare team. The interpersonal relations of nurses include inter-professional relations between nurses and their superordinates and subordinates, intra-professional relations among nursing colleagues and professional-client relations between nurses and patients and their attendants. The present paper aims to understand the interpersonal relations of nurses on these aspects. The study concludes that nurses have both formal and informal interpersonal relations at their workplace, feel free to interact and communicate, enjoy trust and support of their colleagues, command authority over subordinates, patients and attendants.