Communicating involves nonverbal and verbal actions and behaviours where a shared meaning is created between two people and the intended message has been correctly deciphered by the receiver according to Higgs et al. Communicating within a health care environment is a very important factor in terms of efficiently caring for clients and creating an optimistic outlook. This is evident as most complaints and complications relate to poor communication within a workplace.Higgs et al. tates that three of the key communication approaches include self awareness, empathy and emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence, one of the key approaches to communication in a health care setting, is a fundamental part of communication.
Intelligence was often associated with performance in IQ tests but it has recently been discovered that it is only one of the seven types of intelligences in McQueen’s study . Emotional intelligence is also one of the seven types of intelligences and can be broken into four branches according to Reilly .These four branches include: emotional perception and expression, emotional facilitation of thought, emotional understanding and emotional management. With good skills in these branches, an individual can identify how to appropriately communicate in a given situation.
Without these skills, inappropriate communication will go unnoticed and may continue to cause complications. Overall the goal to achieve in health care environment is to create a successful therapeutic relationship. This involves placing the client’s needs first and where the professional aims to create a positive change in a client.Emotional perception and expression are important in emotional intelligence according to Reilly (. In a therapeutic relationship a professional needs to be aware of their emotions and express them accordingly with the guidance of the clients emotions in such things as facial expression and voice tone to be able to effectively communicate, keeping in mind that the client’s needs come first. According to Reilly (), a nurse needs to be able to identify if a client is in pain or unhappy, discriminating between real and phony facial expressions.
The health care worker needs to know the other individuals emotions and be able to accurately express their own in response. In Cadman and Brewer’s study, an assessment was formed that involved the ability to decode non-verbal cues which assesses the ability an individual has to label emotions. It was identified that an individual should have good emotional intelligence prior to recruitment, and that emotional intelligence is not something that is easily gained and often already needs to exist somewhat in a nurse for them to have communication skills that are of quality.Cadman (finds that those who were able to read feelings in the study were most emotionally stable and therefore would increase the quality of clinical nursing outcomes if hired.
Although it is stated that it is ideal for a nurse being hired to already have the skills necessary to identify emotions, the way we communicate can be improved. According to Higgs et al. (in order to improve communication skills, self evaluation and self-reflection are critical so that feedback can be made.Emotional understanding is the ability to label and understand emotions, why and how they have occurred and understand the transition amongst them according to Reilly For example, it is identified in Reilly’s article that an irritable patient would need the health care worker to realise that often irritation leads to anger if the initial irritation is not eliminated. A health care worker needs to keep in mind that anger could result if communication is not dealt with appropriately.This ability would enable an individual to respond to a client more accurately in a health care setting as they are better able to identify and understand their emotions and respond accordingly.
Emotional facilitation of thought involves taking advantage of emotions to help an individual think and using them in reasoning and problem solving according to Reilly An individual with this ability can appreciate multiple points of view and encourages problem solving by the use of feelings to guide them through decisions which are healthy. In McQueen’s study, it is stated that this can be used in a health care setting as a health care worker needs to ensure that they make the correct decisions for their clients and use their emotions to guide them. The patients can use their emotions to help them make decisions in regards to their health and a health care worker can aid them with this.Emotional management involves the ability to monitor feelings and be open to eelings, knowing when to engage or detach from an emotional stage according to Reilly Traditionally nurses were taught to conceal their emotions in the work place but McQueen’s study has shown that nurse–patient relationships are important in the workplace and that ‘The move to encourage partnership in health care requires open communication and mutual understanding that can be facilitated when there is good rapport between patient and professional’ Although it is stated in McQueen’s study that it is now encouraged to be open to feelings, it is also important for a health care worker to be able to detach themselves emotionally at an appropriate time with a client, as becoming too attached can decrease professionalism and boundaries need to be set regardless of how the patient has been behaving, according to Reilly A loss of emotional control can cause negative affects not only for the client, but for the health care worker aswell.
O’Connell (states that engaging in therapeutic relationships can expose nurses to emotional pain. Emotional management means a negative situation can turn into a positive and clients can benefit from the intelligent use of a health care workers emotion. That is if the health care worker is able to keep in control of these emotions and not become too overwhelmed by the stresses a health care environment can cause.The development of emotional intelligence is required to develop and maintain relationships in the most efficient way possible and in O’Connell’s article is said to enhance the care of not only patients, but their families aswell.
Overall, the four branches of emotional intelligence are important in helping a health care worker form a high-quality therapeutic relationship with a client. The health care worker is able to perceive, facilitate, understand and manage emotions. This enables them to deliver the correct communication to the client and aid them as much as possible, creating a positive effect and improving their health status.
