ANSWER
The Appropriate Function of the Surrogate Role in Modern Nursing Practice
According to Hildegard Peplau’s theory of interpersonal relations, the surrogate function as a nurse filling in for a substitute figure gives patients in the lack of family or social support emotional support, advocacy, and direction. Although modern nursing literature does not often stress this role, it is nonetheless important, especially in some clinical environments where patients lack sufficient social networks or suffer vulnerabilities.
Relevance of the Surrogate Role Therapeutic Relationships Emotional Support Modern practice depends on the surrogate role to establish therapeutic interactions. Particularly in acute care, mental health, and paediatric environments, nurses frequently run across patients suffering with anxiety, fear, or emotional pain. Under these circumstances, nurses play the surrogate role by providing emotional stability and comfort, therefore building confidence and security. In paediatric nursing, for instance, children away from their parents depend on nurses to create a safe and caring surroundings. This function fits the patient-centered care approach, in which nurses attend to emotional and psychological demands in addition to physical ones (Hagerty et al., 2017).
Patients with limited social support systems—such as those in palliative care, psychiatric environments, or those with chronic diseases—have particular need for the surrogate function. By advocating for patients’ needs, nurses in these jobs guarantee they get the right tools and treatment. This function gives patients who cannot negotiate complicated medical systems on their own agency and helps to close gaps in healthcare access.
Support in Psychiatric and Trauma Care: Patients with disrupted family relationships or those who feel isolation owing to stigma depend especially on the surrogate role in mental health settings. As reliable partners, nurses assist patients develop resilience and confidence as they negotiate their healing process (Foronda et al., 2016).
Difficulties Presuming the Surrogate Role
The surrogate function presents difficulties in modern nursing even with its importance:
Higher patient-to—nurse ratios and administrative requirements help to lower the time nurses may commit to provide specific emotional care.
Models of Team-Based Care: The integration of multidisciplinary care teams has transferred tasks, such emotional support, to social workers and mental health specialists, hence possibly reducing the nurse’s surrogate function.
At last
In nursing practice, Peplau’s surrogate position is still relevant especially in environments where emotional support, advocacy, and patient-centered care are vital. Even if time restrictions and team-based care models influence the implementation of the function, it is still a fundamental part of comprehensive nursing care. Modern nursing should aim to strike a balance between workload and maintain this responsibility to guarantee thorough, compassionate patient treatment.
References
Patusky, K. and Hagerty, B. M. (2017). Changing Peplau’s idea of interpersonal interactions to see health as an interactive process. Thirty (1), 52–57 Nursing Science Quarterly. 10.1177/08943184 166 https://doi.org/10.1177/08943484
Foronda, C.; MacWilliams, B.; McArthur, E. (2016). Interprofessional communication in the context of healthcare: a synthesis In Practice, 19(1), 36–40 is Nurse Education 10.1016/j.nepr.2016.04.005 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2016.04.005
QUESTION
The surrogate role is not one that is frequently mentioned in recent nursing practice literature. Is that role as defined by Peplau relevant to nursing practice as currently experienced. If so, in what way. If not, why?
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