nURSING ASSIGNMENT

According to Wharam, 2009 emotional intelligence is the capability to remain conscious and the use of one’s emotions so as to converse with others and or even oneself, to be able to manage and to motivate self and other people with the understanding of emotions. It is the ability to and skill in identifying, assessing and controlling the personal emotions and those of other individuals or groups (Holland, 2012). Emotional intelligence in humans develops from genetic inheritance and the influences of socializing during childhood and adulthood. This form of intelligence one can learn and expand.

People working in the nursing profession require having the ability to manage and regulate their personal emotions and how they express these feelings when taking care of the patients. For instance, nurses are only supposed to show only the feelings that represent care, compassion, and understanding of the patients.

In the body language quiz, I had a score of fourteen out of twenty. My score means that I am above average in handling and managing my emotions. The result also means that I am above average at reading expressions of others and respond to them in an appropriate way. However, my quiz score is not the best and I need to improve on my level. I will boost my level of emotional intelligence by improving on my emotion recognition skills.

There is an expansion in the scope of the responsibilities, skills needed, and the depth of knowledge necessary to be an effective leader in the nursing profession (Tyczkowski, Vandenbouten, Reilly, Gaurau, Kubsch, & Raelynn, 2015). This expansion leads to a lot of stressful situations among the nursing leaders. Emotional intelligence will be a useful tool to help me have the necessary skills to overcome this form of stress.

The role of nurses is becoming more complex because of the emergence of new and complex diseases. Some of these diseases are terminal, and the patients require special care. These new conditions also require a more advanced type of nursing care which puts a higher burden on the nurses to improve their skills and knowledge. Despite the high level of care that nurses give, patients sometimes succumb from these diseases which demotivate the nurses. The nurses will, therefore, require a healthy working environment. Improving to have a high level of emotional intelligence will help me offer transformational leadership that is necessary for such situations to create a positive working environment.

Emotional intelligence requires having the abilities to motivate one and persist in the times of frustrations and hardships. It also needs the capacity to manage emotions during such times and overcome distress to cope with the situation and find a solution. Positive emotional intelligence will enhance my leadership because it will help me manage my emotions and motivate myself in the times of frustrations. Once am motivated I will be in a better position to motivate the nurses under my supervision. This motivation will help the whole team to effectively and efficiently overcome such situations without affecting the quality of the nursing services.

Nurses are on a daily basis involved in several interactions with patients and other stakeholders. All these interactions require having the ability to display the appropriate leadership behavior. Research has shown that emotional intelligence has a direct relationship with having effective processes in a health care facility and lead to positive outcomes for the office. Having a positive emotional intelligence as a leader in nursing will help enhance good patient recovery, patient satisfaction, increase staff resilience and reduce staff turnover.

EI will also help me manage interpersonal relationships and communications with the other nurses under my supervision. It will help me know what kind of emotions to show in different situations and also understand the feelings of the other nurses.

Due to the various forms of emotional intelligence levels of the nurses under my supervision, there is an expectation that conflicts may arise. The conflicts may range from personal to work related issues. Having a positive emotional intelligence will help me to solve all the conflicts between nurses in a positive manner without favoritism.

One of the abilities necessary for a positive emotional intelligence is identifying emotions and emotional content in the thoughts of an individual or other people (Feather, 2009). Having this ability will enhance my leadership in that I will know how to express personal emotions accurately and have the information necessary to discriminate between accurate and inaccurate feelings. This skill will help me to identify the specific emotions to show when assigning duties, handling a non-complying nurse, solving conflicts and when undertaking other tasks. Such will lead to nurses and other employees’ satisfaction which translates to patients’ satisfaction.

A low level of emotional intelligence will hinder leadership because I will not know the correct emotions to show. The incorrect emotions will communicate the wrong things to the nurses, and this may lead to conflict between them and me that will be a hindrance to proper solving of conflicts because I may side with one person and my decision may be seen to be for a particular person. Such situations may work negatively on the morale of the other team members.

In the current times, the global health care sector is undergoing change to adapt to the challenges brought forth by the new ailments. These current terminal diseases are a cause of grief to the nursing profession and are becoming overwhelming to some nurses. As a leader, I must allow the employees to deal with their feelings that include loss, grief, and anxiety. If I am not emotionally intelligent, I may rush to fix and control the different forms of responses that nurses show and in the process fail to show empathy to their feelings. Such actions may also appear to be judgmental and increase pressure on the nurses which may have an impact on their performance.

Having a little emotional intelligence may also hinder effective leadership if I am not able to lead others in managing highly emotional situations that may emerge in a health care environment. The role of a leader in health care involves influencing the people to develop and achieve shared values and vision to help the achievement of the organization goals and achieve effectiveness (Hernon & Rossiter, 2006). Moderate IE will hinder me to undertake this role properly, and the health care facility may face several problems during such situations.

In medical attention, emotional intelligence is an important tool to create alliances and connections and repair such relationships when damaged (Fernandez, 2007). The health care sector is also having the challenge of distributing the scarce resources. During difficult times, such relationships may end because of the competition for resources. The competing parties may need to partner during other occasions. Lacking the ability to mend such broken relationships may highly affect and hinder proper working in health care and is a hindrance to efficient management.

References Feather, R. (2009). Emotional Intelligence in relation to nursing leadership. Does it matter? Journal of Nursing Management , 378. Fernandez, C. (2007). Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace. Public Health Practise Management , 80-82. Hernon, P., & Rossiter, N. (2006). Emotional Intelligence: which traits are most prized? College and Research Libraries , 260-275. Holland, K. (2012). Developing Emotional Intelligence for Good to Great Nurses . Nurse Together . Tyczkowski, B., Vandenbouten, C., Reilly, J., Gaurau, B., Kubsch, S. M., & Raelynn, J. (2015). Emotional Intelligence and nursing leadership among Nurse managers. Nurse Admin , 172-180. Wharam, J. (2009). Emotional Intelligence: Journey to the Centre of Yourself. John Hunt Publishing.