Topic: emotional intelligence in nursing leadership

1. Running Head: EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE 1
Emotional intelligence
Name
Institution

2. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE 2
Emotional intelligence
Introduction
Nursing leadership entails advocacy, action and critical thinking. Every feature must
be applied in all domains and roles of caregiving. The aspects play vitalrolesin the personal
and professional lives of nurses. They have an impact on the success of the health of the
patients. It is, therefore, necessary for the healthcare system to ensure there is energetic,
visionary and a steady supply of nursing leaders. In all spheres of nursing practice, managers
who are inspiring, courageous, and credible should be given access to resources and
authority. With the control of the benefits, the leaders can easily support innovative and
modern professional nursing practice.
The work of a nurse leader entails supervising, delegating and coordination of
caregiver working under their jurisdiction. Furthermore, designing working schedules is an
event that is dedicated to the directors.Evaluating and implementing patient care provided by
the healthcare team at a clinical level forms part of manager’s line of work. The nursing
profession involves interaction with different kind of people on a daily basis. For nurtures to
carry out their duties efficiently, they require skills in emotional intelligence. The expertise
will guide caregiver to understand the emotion of the patients. As a result, the individuals
involved get to gain knowledge of how to react in different circumstances (Tyczkowski&et
al., 2015).
Emotional intelligence is the ability to control the emotions, to have a sense of other
people’s needs. Also, using that information to act in away that will encourage a positive
working environment proves that the individual has mastered the skill. The dexterityis
vitalfor nursing. It helps the directors of the caregivers to understand their fellow workers and
know how to respond to different situations. As the end result, unity and job satisfaction for
the nurses is assured. It also assists the care providers to handle patients with ease. The scoop

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of the study is to discuss the concept of emotional intelligence in healthcare,specifically in
nursing leadership. Some of the advantages that associated emotional intelligence have also
been highlighted (Powell & Mixer, 2015).
Nursing story
Health matters involve several individuals both active and passive ones. Among them
are the patients, the relatives of the nurses, and the caregivers. In an event that took place in
London where a family of the nurse alongside the care provider suffered trauma due to
emotional stress. The nurse lacked the ability to handle the emotional challenges she was
undergoing at the work. Still undergoing mental instability, a patient is brought in with the
same emotional trauma. To worsen the situation, the patient turns out to be her husband
suffering the same predicament (Holbery, 2015). Being heartbroken, the caregiver failed to
offer the required treatment.
In the end, her condition worsens after the encounter with her spouse. To the
caregiver, the situation became unbearable when the children get in to ask her what was
ailing their father. The family was affected because of the poor communication of the
caregiver and the kin. For the situation above, the directors of the nurse should have taken
into account the cares of the junior officer early enough.
From the incidence, a trauma education on the caregivers was suggested. The training
focused on the acquisition of the technical skills. In order to successfully deal with the trauma
of the affected the emotional intelligence must be obtained and mastered. The event that
occurred in London has given out the question about the management of different situation
that may arise from emotional hardships. Some of the aspects that need to be possessed by
the nurses have been discussed in this documentation. Generally, the implementation of the
scheme has to fall to the side of the management. In this document are some of the ideas
under which the aspects should be followed to ensure success in the nursing field.

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Mitigating Emotional challenges for nurses
Nurses handle different type of patients while on duty depending on their areasof
specialization. Since care providers interact with the ailingdirectly, they tend to be affected
emotionallyby the conditions of the sick. Some of the nurses are the hospice and mental
health care. Research shows that hospital nursing is a multifaceted and a complex role which
exposes the nurses to complex emotions. Most of the sanatorium nurses are reluctant to
expose the emotional challenges they experience while at work.
A good number of the junior nurses have been reportedgetting traumatized when they
see a person dying in their presence. For some, these challenges end up affecting their life
even when they are at home with their families.Other nurses have been described to change
their duties or areas of specialization entirely. The turnout is due to the feelings raised in their
encounters while handling dying patients. In the end, itleads toashortage of manpower in the
healthcare system.
In my opinion, the caregivers that drop out of the profession have lacked proper
guidance. Nursing leaders should have emotional intelligence skills so that they can be in a
goodposition to guide their juniorswho are entering the field. Having the directors in
conjunction with the management create sessionsfor training nurses will surely work to
mitigate the issue.The nurses will have a chance to open up and share the challenges they
experienced while handling the patients. It helps low-ranking officers to listen toseniors’ first
encounters within the profession.Such forums allow new nurses to realize that the emotions
forms part of the profession practical occurrences and hence seek guidance (Powell & Mixer,
2015).
An argument has been raised stating that leaders should not worry about the emotional
discomfort of the junior officers. The initiators of theconceptclaim by witnessing regular
difficult situations, the caregivers tend to develop their means of coping with the challenges.

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Later, it makes them grow and develop professionally. According to my evaluation, it is
possible for the victim to developmental complexion before getting a solution.When it
happens in that way, it would mean that the nurse will no longer be fit for the
job.Furthermore, even those who end up shifting careers theexperience still affect them. Most
care providers interviewed agree that their work exposes them to emotional pressure.
The information obtained is enough evidence that nursesneedmental guidance
regularly. Attending to suicidal patients require the nurses to have excellent skills in
emotional intelligence. The primary cause of suicidal feelings are the expressive issues. A
nurse who hasadequate skills in handling such cases will help patients to overcome those
problems. It isnecessary that leaders ensure the nurses working under themhave emotional
skills which will help them handle suchincidences. The skills will help the nurses to
determine the extent to which the patients have been affected emotionally(Foster, 2015).
Elements of Emotional Intelligence
Self-Regulation
By inculcating the virtue into the care providers, it would be easy to guide the victims
of emotional distress. Having the ability to keeponeself in control is so vital for the mental
wellbeing. Nursesin leadership can teach the junior workers on how to regulate their decision
making speed. Leaders that have self-regulation are committed to personal accountability.
The same can be passed on to other workers. Adopting some of the ideas highlighted here can
improve their ability in self-regulation. Some of the concepts include knowing one's values
andcommitting oneself to personalliability. Furthermore, practicing to be calm in emotional
situations can work a great deal (Codier & Odell, 2014).
Motivation
Having self-motivation the emotionalintelligence is expected to improve. Leaders that
can find motivation from their hearts are determined to achieve the best theycan in their place

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of work. Strivingto be role models to their peers and those working under their leadership
will help in expressive management. The forerunner, therefore, set high standards in their
personality and performance in their duties. For the nurse to continuebeing motivated in
his/herwork, it is crucial that he/she take time to reexamine his/her roles and profession in
general. In this way, they will be able to identify the things that propelled them to pursue the
profession. It will also help them to determine the success they have achieved.Having time to
reflect on the career life will help a leader to identify aspects that cause him/her not to
experience a sense of job satisfaction (Ohlson & Anderson, 2015). Another vitalelement of
making sure that one is motivated is being hopeful. That is, no matter what the conditions one
faces careerwise, there is aneed to maintain the right spirit and being confidence for an
improvement.
A nursing leader can learn to be empathic by practicing some of the following things.
The manager should learn to put him in the shoes and try to determine what is affecting or
what one is feeling that is making him or her be disturbed. The leader also should be keen on
the body language of the people they are talking with. It will help to know if the employee is
relaxed or under pressure (Kaur &et al., 2013).
Non-verbal communication can tell if the worker is at peace in the workplace or is
distressed. Some people couldbe suffering silently,trying to hide from their leaders. Although
they can conceal these conditions for long within themselves, it can end up affecting their
abilities to perform their duties. It is, therefore, the duty of the leaders to assess the physical
trait that will indicate that an employee is not stable emotionally and act accordingly (Bennett
& Sawatzky, 2013).
Social Skills
The nursing leaders who have developed their social skills are capable of controlling
their emotions in different situations. An organizer should maintain steady emotions even

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when they receive bad news. The directorscan listen when someone narrates a story to them
without indicating emotional changes. Leaders withan excellent master of social skills have
abilities to resolve conflicts that arise in the nursing fraternity. Thebosses will not give a blind
look after realizing that some employees are not working in harmony while performing their
duties. Efforts will be madeto ensure that the source of the conflict is known and determined
to help individuals that are stressed to get over the worries. The effectiveness to solve
emotional disturbances in low-ranking officers comes with the ability to listen to the affected
person and thus find a well-reasoned out solution (Foster, 2015).
Importance of Emotional Intelligence to Leaders in Nursing
The advantage of the emotional intelligence in nursing leadership comes with the
nature of work involved in the practice.Unlike other professions, caregiversare usually forced
to work extra hours, probably attending to emergencies. Due to these cases, the nurses tend to
get fatigued hence lack of easy recovery. Such nursesare overpowered by the emotional
challenges they meet during working hours.
A leader who has emotional intelligence skill is required in such a case to help a
worker who is getting into emotional problems. It is vitalfor the leaders to have skills of
detecting nurses who have emotional issues and act first so asto prevent irreversible
conditions that are likely to be experienced. By delivering accordingly, nurses with
problematic emotional conditions will find it easy to get back on track. In this way, the
leaders will help to maintain the performance of the nurses (Chang, 2017).
The relationship between the caregivers and the patients willalso improve if there is a
solution to emotional issues affecting the nurses. If the care providers are stress-free and have
skills to handleemotional situations, they can be useful in handlingdifferent kinds of patients.
When the foster personnel showinterest to assist the patients, it makes the ailing to be happy.
In the end, the sick will be more prepared to open up on their conditions to the practitioners

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attending to them.It, therefore, becomes easy for the nurses and other clinical officers to tell
what is affecting their health and thus prescribe the right medications (Tyczkowski,
2015).Attending to the emotional problems affecting nurses helps them to discover what is
making them underperform early enough.From that point, the caregiver can devise means of
overcoming the challenges. Also, the step willmake them have the self-awareness that is
helpful in the struggle to avoid sinking into similar problems in future (Spano-Szekely,
2016).
Useful skills in emotional intelligence help the nursesto succeed in making the
patients open up and be free to explain their conditions to the practitioners. In that way, it will
be easy for the clinical officers to pinpoint the source of their problems. Ability to listen to
the patients makes them also to feel loved. A sense of feeling that they are loved to give them
the energy to fight for their health. The patients will also paint a good picture of the
organization if they find their workers welcoming and willing to help the patients who visit
the nursing home. Furthermore, the people will sell a good report with the society concerning
the institution(Karimi, 2014).
Conclusion
From above discussion, it shows that there are many advantages that emotional
intelligence help nursing leaders to accomplish their work. It helps the leaders to unite the
nurses and have a strong and dedicated team. Theemotional intelligence has several
advantages. Creating a good environment that encourages all leaders toworkis a necessity that
should be provided by the nurse managers. Soft skills will promote a positive working
atmosphere among the nurses and hence, boost the general performance.
Development of the skill early enough it helps to maintain the morale of the nurse
emotional intelligence early. By the time one gets into thesenior position he/she has practiced
the skills long enough and will have an easy time to pass the information to other incoming

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officers. Impacting emotional intelligence to the junior nurses boos their professional skills in
handling patients (Spano-Szekely, 2016).

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