A big part of being a nurse is working with patients to create the best outcome possible.
It can be emotionally taxing at times, but if you have certain skills and knowledge, you’ll be better able to navigate the emotional ups and downs that come with caring for people in a hospital setting.
In this article we’re going to take a look at emotional intelligence skills that nurses need – basic knowledge of these skills will allow you to better handle difficult situations and also help you improve your relationships with coworkers.
The article will focus on how understanding emotions can affect your ability to do your job as well as how emotional intelligence helps in daily life outside of work.
Why Is Emotional Intelligence Important In Nursing?
For a long time, emotions have been overlooked in the medical field.
In fact, when looking at the big picture of nursing, even in nursing school more emphasis was placed on how to do things and less emphasis on how to think.
Without the ability to deal with feelings, nurses may be unable to take care of their patients emotionally during prolonged hospital stays or prevent patients from hurting themselves emotionally due to an inability to cope with their feelings.
Emotional Intelligence Skills That Nurses Need
The first step is knowing what emotional intelligence skills are, and then working out how to develop those skills.
In some cases, university programs like online accelerated BSN programs for non nurses will help student nurses to recognize emotional intelligence and how important it is to their new field, but for nurses who have been in the industry a long time, a refresher may be needed,
Here are some of the emotional intelligence skills that nurses should work toward improving:
Empathy
This is a skill that helps nurses to better relate to patients. The ability to understand and relate to those around you will lead you to better care for your patients.
Empathy is really important within the medical field because it helps you to better understand the problems and emotions of your patients. It also helps you to relate to them so that you can help them.
In some cases, nurses need to learn how to do what the average person does in order for them to better understand their patients, but for nurses who work in the mental health field, empathy is a key skill in an ability to improve patient care.
Analytical Skill
Analytical skill helps nurses make good judgments about future events and help them recognize when something new is happening quickly.
This helps nurses respond much quicker to life situations where time is important such as making rushes at the hospital, missing instructions from a doctor, or having trouble understanding information from a patient or co-worker (information especially important in an emergency situation).
Interpersonal Skills
Interpersonal skills are important because they help nurses to better communicate with patients.
They help patients to open up and share their feelings with the nurse which in turn makes it possible for the nurse to properly care for them.
Interpersonal skills are also important when dealing with coworkers and other professionals who may be in contact with the patient. Having good interpersonal skills leads to better relationships which means that your colleagues will trust you more and be able to communicate with you when needed.
Stress Management
Stress management is one of the most important skills that nurses need to learn in order to deal with their emotions.
Simply being able to understand your emotions and work on improving them through stress management will result in better patient care.
This means that as a nurse, you’ll be able to handle unexpected situations and identify when something is wrong so you can take action before your patient becomes injured or even worse.
Stress management is a key skill for nurses because it helps them to recognize bad situations and take action in order to protect the patient while they are under stress (this can lead to injury).
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking comes in handy for nurses primarily because it helps them to avoid problems with coworkers or the hospital itself.
Everyone makes mistakes, but critical thinking can help you recognize when those mistakes are happening so that you can take action before it affects a patient.
It also helps nurses to evaluate situations and make the best possible decision for their patients when taking care of them (which could include changing an order).
How Does Emotional Intelligence Develop
Emotional intelligence is something that anyone can work on.
All humans have the ability to develop emotional intelligence but you may need to work on it in order to improve your skills. For nurses, university programs will often help them to develop their emotional intelligence or bring it up so that when they enter the workplace, they are ready for high-stress situations.
Working and communicating with patients will also help nurses develop their emotional intelligence by giving them a chance to practice empathy and helping them understand how emotions affect others as well as themselves.
Nurses can also read, discuss, and even write about emotions in order to better understand how they work and what they feel like.
Conclusion
Emotional intelligence is a skill that everyone needs to develop in order to be successful.
It can help you to communicate better with patients and co-workers so that you can properly take care of them and stay safe during your job.
Emotional intelligence is also important outside of work because it helps you to understand the feelings of those around you whether they are friends, family members, or strangers, which will lead to better communication and relationships overall.
Hospital leadership should spend time focusing on the importance of emotional intelligence in nursing staff, especially in an emergency situation.
Training sessions at the hospital should be focused on this topic so that nurses have a greater understanding of how to handle their emotions in stressful situations.
Emotional intelligence is a skill that everyone should work toward improving, but it is an especially important skill for nurses to develop in order for them to take care of their patients and stay safe.