How Does Emotional Intelligence Help Nurses


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Over the past few years, emotional intelligence (“EI”) has become one of the most popular workplace behaviors to promote in employers. It is typically described as the ability to identify your own emotions and those of others, use that information to understand what other people are feeling and thinking, and then respond effectively to these feelings.
Some experts believe it can be measured through questionnaires that assess certain traits such as empathy or self-awareness. Others say it cannot, and even those who agree with the first theory disagree about what makes an adequate measure of EI.
Regardless, there is no doubt that higher levels of EI are helpful for professionals in all sorts of fields. A recent study found that having high EQ was linked to lower stress and anxiety while at work. And research conducted over several decades shows that individuals with higher EQ also tend to do better socially and professionally.
This article will discuss how nurses can develop their emotional skills and why this is important to them as workers and members of society. At the end, you will have an opportunity to take part in an activity that applies some of the strategies discussed here to improve your emotional regulation.
Job satisfaction
What makes someone enjoy their job is how they feel it helps them fulfill their personal goals. If you are in this profession to make money, then you have lost that element of passion for what you do.
As a nurse, your career can be very rewarding. You will help people achieve their health-related dreams by educating them about appropriate diets, exercise routines, and self-care strategies.
You will also inspire them to adopt healthy habits which may even save their lives. In addition, nurses get to connect with other professionals outside of work to develop friendships that last a lifetime.
All of these things contribute to making nursing a satisfying career. But unfortunately, not everyone agrees.
Some doctors and patients seem to put more pressure on nurses than necessary to meet their expectations, thus lowering our overall job satisfaction. This was a major factor when I chose my career, but as we know, there’s no use having a degree if you aren’t happy being a member of the community that rewards you for it.
Running into too many hurdles instead of just accepting the differences can sometimes prevent individuals from finding the right balance between work and life.
Promote health
Over the past decade, there has been an explosion of interest in what is now referred to as emotional intelligence (EI). Many claim that it can have vast benefits for us and thus we should learn about it.
This idea seems plausible given that one of the defining features of humans is our ability to feel emotions. We experience emotion every minute of every day, and studies show that people with higher EI are healthier than those who do not.
They are less likely to be diagnosed with depression or anxiety disorder, suffer from mental illness like PTSD or schizophrenia, or use alcohol or other drugs problematically. They are also more likely to enjoy and succeed in life, work, and relationships.
Emotional skills include understanding your own feelings, being able to recognize and understand others’ emotions, practicing empathy, controlling unwanted emotions, using effective time management strategies, and having good self-esteem.
Perform clinical tasks
While not every nurse is an emotional leader, all nurses perform many crucial professional functions that require strong leadership skills. These include performing advanced medical procedures such as inserting intravenous needles or taking blood samples, administering medications, and doing surgery.
Nurses also work in other areas of the hospital where they lead staff members and create positive working environments. They are often in charge of organizing and running shifts for their department, recruiting new employees, and training them on how to do their jobs.
In addition to these managerial duties, some nurses have specializations beyond the average nursing degree. For example, cardiac nurses care for patients with heart-related conditions, pediatric nurses help children get better after being diagnosed with a disease, and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses take care of very young babies who need extra attention due to complications from birth or illness.
All of these professionsrequire nurses to be ableotolerate excessive stress and manage their emotions. When they’re faced with the unexpected lossofan organoradical procedure, there can be high anxietyandstress.
However, NICUsare designed to handle stressful situationsso when a babyis bornpreemies,theharderworkarounormal. But evenforborn infants,there’salways at leastonethingtodo! And if a parentdoesn’t show upfortheir childat thehospitalafterbirth,then thenursemust figure out whatto donext.