Relational Inquire

Relational Inquiry (RI)

• RI is a highly reasoned and skilled action that involves a relational orientation, thorough knowledge base, curiosity, and clinical skills.
• It is a way of thinking and focusing attention on the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and contextual levels of a healthcare situation.

Components of Relational Inquiry

Relational Orientation

• Focuses on considering the unseen and/or ignored elements shaping what is transpiring in a healthcare situation.
• Looks beyond the surface of people and situations to understand the complexities of relational realities.

Inquiring Action

• Involves asking questions not only of others but also of oneself.
• Seeks to understand the situation, including the context, and determine what else may be needed to move forward.

Relational Inquiry and Well-being

Patient/Family Well-being

• A socio-environmental approach to health care understands health as more than just the absence of disease.
• Emphasizes the importance of contextual factors in shaping health and well-being.
• Focuses on enhancing people's capacity and power to live meaningful lives.

Nurse Well-being

• Nurses' well-being requires a socio-environmental approach to mitigate the detrimental effects of working in healthcare settings.
• Emotional distress can build over time when nurses are unable to provide the kind of care they were educated to provide.

System Well-being

• The healthcare system's well-being is often oriented to a business model, emphasizing efficiency and profit over other considerations.
• Challenges such as increasing acuity, health human resource challenges, and burnout affect the well-being of the healthcare system.

Knowledge and Relational Inquiry

• A pragmatic approach to knowledge enlists all forms of knowledge and focuses on its value in achieving desired consequences.
• RI recognizes the limitations and fallibility of knowledge and prioritizes continual examination and questioning.

Focus and Attention

• Intentionally focusing attention is a powerful strategy in nursing work.

• Attention is dynamic, and RI involves directing attention to consider the complexities of relational realities.### Reflecting on Practice Situations

• Reflecting on a situation that "bugged" you can help you identify the focus of attention, guiding concerns, and actions taken.

• Consider how efficiency, urgency, or emotion drove the situation.

• Reflection can suggest alternative actions that could have been taken.

Relational Inquiry (RI) Toolbox

• To become an intentional, competent nurse, combine intellectual understanding with embodied, emotional experience.
• Draw upon knowledge from theory, personal experience, and nursing practice.
• Enact and create knowledge in all aspects of life.
• Relationally respond to others, driven by curiosity and a desire to become a nurse.

The 5 Ws of Relating

• Identify what you are relating to and focusing attention on.
• Determine what you value and ignore.
• Recognize who you are relating to and whose voice you are hearing.
• Understand why you are relating and what goals are driving you.
• Consider how time and timing shape your relating practice.

The 5 Cs: Relational Capacities Central to RI

• Compassion: sharing suffering and being with others.
• Curiosity: being interested and open to uncertainty.
• Commitment: actively identifying and staying true to values and concerns.
• Competence: person and context-dependent knowledge and skills.
• Correspondence: relating to people in a meaningful way.

Homework: Watching the Relational Interplay

• Observe people interacting in a busy setting.
• Notice appearances, behaviors, and interactions.
• Identify what captures your attention and sparks curiosity.
• Analyze people, contexts, and situations shaping each other.
• Reflect on your own feelings, thoughts, and biases.
• Consider how physical settings influence interactions.