Ensure you review legislation relevant to the nurse-client relationship, as some laws may affect the roles that nurses can assume.
Be transparent, therapeutic and ethical with all your clients and former clients. When the issues are complex and boundaries are not clear, discuss your concerns with a knowledgeable and trusted colleague.
Disclose your personal information only with a therapeutic intent, such as to develop trust and establish a rapport with a client. Focus on the client’s needs. Do not disclose intimate details or give long descriptions of your personal experience.
If you accept clients as personal contacts on social media sites, you may be crossing a boundary. You may also breach client privacy and confidentiality. Do not discuss clients (even anonymously or indirectly) or share client pictures on social media sites or in any public forum.
Nurses who work and live in the same community often have a dual role. Ensure that the applicable legislation does not prohibit you from acting in a nursing role and a personal role at the same time. If you have a personal relationship with a client or former client, be clear about when you are acting in a personal relationship and when you are acting in a professional relationship. Explain your commitment to confidentiality and what the client can expect of you as a nurse. Consider the difference between being friendly and being friends.
Be cautious in forming a personal relationship with a former client. Consider the amount of time that has passed since the professional relationship ended; how mature and vulnerable the former client is; whether the former client has any impaired decision-making ability; the nature, intensity, and duration of the nursing care that was provided; and whether the client is likely to require your care again.
Before touching or hugging a client, determine whether such contact would be appropriate, supportive and welcome.
Be careful about accepting a token gift from a client. Consider why the client has offered the gift to you, and the value and appropriateness of the gift. When you refuse a gift, explain why in a sensitive manner. Discuss ways the gift could be redirected.
If you are a nurse administrator, educator or researcher, consider how these principles apply to your relationships with staff, students and research participants.
Seek impartial help to clarify the boundaries of a therapeutic relationship if you become aware of any of the following behaviour in yourself or a colleague:
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