AIM: The purposes are to (a) examine the emerging concepts of connection within nursing practice and education; (b) evaluate current measures of connections within nursing practice and education; and c) identify strategies for enhancing connections between nursing educators and students and for nurses and patients.

BACKGROUND: Nursing and other disciplines rely on connections, although the term has evolved significantly in recent years due to changes of perceptions and expectations within other disciplines and within society. The lack of an empirical tool and defined attributes has constrained research and knowledge development. The initial exploration provided the first step in understanding the context and meaning of the word connect within the nursing profession. Three specific components were identified in this initial exploration within the nursing perspective: (a) respect, (b) trust, and (c) mutuality. Although the foundation of nursing care is based on the relationship and connections between the nurse and the patient, it is further identified in the first article that the need to further investigate the emerging ideas of connection within nursing practice and education.

METHODS: A detailed literature review was used to explore the phenomena of connection. The review of literature was performed through searches of CINAHL, EBSCO, and PubMed utilizing resources from the disciplines of transportation, business, technology, and nursing. Criteria for inclusion were (a) peer--reviewed articles; (b) articles published in English; and c) articles published between 2000 and 2014. Search terms included: connect, connection, connected, connectedness, and nursing. The search yielded a total of 114 articles; 33 were selected for inclusion. Definitions and related attributes were organized and classified based on relevance and frequency within the literature.

RESULTS: The attributes that were consistently found in the literature within the nurse to patient connection were: (a) interactions between the person and the object of connection; (b) an inherent need to be part of a social system; (c) use of communication in verbal, written, non­verbal, physical or virtual format; (d) the occurrence of meaningfulness, trust, mutuality and respect; (e) polychronicity; and (f) technology based emphasis. Instruments that measure connections and connectedness provide valuable insight into the concept. However, they do not adequately address the concept of connection as it relates to nursing practice and education with current technological.

CONCLUSIONS: While connection is a common term and fundamental to the role of the nurse/patient relationship, the defining attributes of connect have dynamically changed, and therefore require new understanding. It is critical to restructure the nurse to patient connection and to redefine the term within nursing practice and education with the inclusion of the multifaceted technological advances that define our current generations. Strategies that would enhance the nursing educator and student connection include: a) creation of additional nursing educational based Apps and Apps that focus on self-instruction tutorials and remediation techniques for non-successful students; b) integration of technological learning modalities into nursing curricula in both undergraduate and graduate programs; c) reduction of use of textbooks and inclusion of technology based learning; d) development of learning communities inside and outside of the classroom; e) creation of virtual resource support with simultaneous communication and valuable nursing information; f) and increased use of virtual environment and virtual communication.