The nurse-patient relationship as a caring relationship.

Studies regarding healthcare professionals and patient relationships were found to be few in the review completed by this author. Moreover, there are fewer still that analyze the role of nurse professionals as agents in the relationship. The author of this column approaches the nurse-patient relationship from the framework of the general systems theory and shows the need to further study and clarify the function of different elements in the nurse-patient relationship as it occurs in daily practice, and in patients' expectations.