Human-to-Human Relationship Theory

At the end of the day the ability to connect with our patients boils down to how we’ve made them feel. For whatever the reason that brings someone to the hospital, doctor’s office or clinic there’s a pretty good chance the person isn’t feeling their best. The whole reason behind the medical field is to correct problems preventing someone from performing at their full ability. As practitioners of medicine, it is our responsibility to provide the best possible treatment for the individuals who have entrusted us with their health. However, there are barriers that can obstruct our ability to help those in need of our services. One of the biggest obstacles that we come up against preventing us from completing the tasks at hand, is ourselves.

How we interact with one another, the way we communicate and our ability to form relationships is completely subjective and on an individual basis. By being able to connect with others and form a relationship that goes beyond pill pushing and checking blood pressures, we as nurses can guarantee a better, more productive and meaningful experience for our patients. Joyce Travelbee’s Human-to-Human Relationships theory is an excellent model for us in doing just that.

Joyce Travelbee was a writer, an educator, with her focus in nursing in the psychiatric field. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in nursing education at Louisiana State University in 1956. She then completed her Master of Science from Yale in 1959. She started working on her doctoral program in 1973 but was unfortunately unable to complete the program due to her unexpected death at the age of 47 (Nursing Theories, 2013). Before her untimely death she published several articles and developed a well-known theory in nur...

... middle of paper ...

...ee, J. (1966). Interpersonal aspects of nursing. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis

Human-to-Human Relationship Model. (2012). Retrieved October 10, 2013, from

http://currentnursing.com/nursing_theory/Joyce_Travelbee.html

Butts, J. B., & Rich, K. (2012). Nursing ethics: Across the curriculum and into practice.

Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett

Parker, M. E., & Smith, M. (2010) Nursing theories and nursing practice (3rd ed.). Philadelphia,

PA: F.A. Davis

Basavanthappa, B. T. (2007). Nursing theories. New Delhi, India: Jaypee Brothers Medical

Publishers

Rich, K. (2003). Point of view. Revisiting Joyce Travelbee’s question: what’s wrong with

sympathy?. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 9(6), 202-204

Travelbee, J. (1963). What do we mean by rapport?. The American Journal of Nursing, 63, 70-72

(“Human-to-Human Relationship Model,” 2012).