Objectives: this narrative review, empirical findings from multiple sources are brought together with the aim of examining the relational competencies that nurses assess in themselves as well as the caring behaviors they display when engaging with patients, while also pointing out factors that predict these elements, methods used for measurement, and the broader consequences for education in nursing.


Methods: A narrative literature review was carried out in a systematic manner, involving searches for peer-reviewed studies that were published from 1997 through to 2025 and drawn from a range of databases.


Results: When evidence from a variety of international settings was synthesized, it became clear that both nursing students and those already working as practitioners tend to regard their relationships with patients as supportive and helpful provided that there is enough time for contact, a sense of personal capability, increasing age, and accumulated experience. At the same time, the caring behaviors that nurses exhibit often place greater emphasis on completing technical procedures rather than on showing expressive qualities such as compassion and emotional support.


Conclusions: Both the education provided to nurses and the practices they follow in clinical settings need to incorporate structured forms of self-evaluation so that technical abilities can be developed alongside relational skills in a balanced way, with attention paid to influences from the surrounding context and from demographic factors in order to foster genuine interactions with patients and to support ongoing growth in the profession.