Interpersonally-focused Nursing

Nursing encompasses all of the hours of the day that a patient is not in therapy. Nurses help patients to live meaningful lives while in treatment. They obtain vital information from patients about their personality, behavior and relationships to assess dysfunction and maximize patients' strengths.

In addition, the patient's relationship with a nursing care coordinator serves as a consistent source of support during the patient's entire stay at Riggs.

It is essential to the patient's learning that he or she maintains a working alliance with members of the nursing staff. This alliance necessitates that a patient honestly convey his or her emotions, ask for help and use words rather than actions to communicate distress.

The nursing staff plays an indispensable role in patients' progress by identifying alterations in thinking, perceiving and communicating in order to evaluate motivation for change as well as to address resistance and ambivalence.