The Concept of Emotional Intelligence (EI)
- Recognizing feelings
- Managing emotions
- Facilitating intellectual growth
- Peter Salovey and Jack Mayer
Note: Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and generate emotions in a way that promotes thinking and understanding of feelings and what they mean. Accordingly, it means the skill to manage them in such a way as to facilitate one’s own emotional and intellectual growth. The concept of emotional intelligence was introduced by Peter Salovey and Jack Mayer and has been actively used in science ever since.
Possibilities of Using EI
- Using emotional intelligence everywhere
- Self-control
- Introspection
- Understanding
Note: As knowledge of emotional intelligence expands and deepens, people begin to use it not only in professional activities but also in ordinary life. They find themselves being able to demonstrate a higher level of self-control, introspection, and understanding of other people’s feelings, even at home.
Emotional Intelligence When Applying for a Job
- Emotional intelligence in hiring
- Ability assessment
- The employee as a leader
- The employee as a team player
Note: For employers, such qualities are essential when hiring nurses or health care workers in general. They allow them to assess how effectively a person will prove himself as a leader and as a team player.
How Do Emotional Leaders Help in Difficult Situations?
- Evoking a positive response
- Offering emotional support
- Demonstrating their world view
- Interpreting a stressful situation
Note: An emotional leader can evoke in people a positive response and stimulate their activity. In difficult times, everyone turns to the leader in search of emotional support. Since such people have a significant influence on those around them, their worldview articulates the meaning of what is happening. The leader offers an interpretation or variant of comprehension of the situation and the nature of the emotional reaction to it.
The Difficult Process of Increasing Emotional Intelligence
- Emotional intelligence can be developed
- It is a challenging process (Mansel & Einion, 2019)
- It helps to cope with stress
- It helps to understand others
Note: Unlike IQ, the level of which is primarily determined by genes, emotional intelligence develops over the course of a person’s lifetime. Its development is one of the most challenging tasks for nurses (Mansel & Einion, 2019). However, this process yields the most remarkable results and increases personal effectiveness. The development of emotional intelligence allows one to manage emotions, understand others, solve personal and professional problems and react appropriately to stress.
Ways of Measuring Emotional Intelligence
- Three basic dimensions of emotional intelligence
- At the first stage the emotions are suppressed
- The second stage is emotion management
- Learning to acknowledge feelings
Note: At the first level, a person’s emotions are in a repressed state. The person cannot make sense of himself and the reason for his feelings. At the second level, the person understands some of their ulterior motives and learns to manage their emotions.
Ways of Measuring Emotional Intelligence
- The last stage
- Observing from the outside
- Understanding of themselves
- Understanding of one’s intentions
Note: In the third stage, it is as if people observe their emotions from the outside, which gives them a clear understanding of themselves and their intentions. This phase is the maximum realization of people’s emotional potential.
The Relationship of Leadership and EI
- A significant contribution to effective leadership
- Efficient goal achievement due to EI (Prezerakos, 2018)
- An essential tool for management
- Impact of EI on the entire team
Note: Emotional intelligence makes a significant contribution to effective leadership. As the Prezerakos (2018) study suggests, nurses with high levels of EI increase interest, thereby contributing to more effective goal attainment within the health care team. This is an essential tool for achieving effective management in the healthcare system.
The Importance of Emotional Intelligence for Nurses
- The profession itself requires empathy
- Much interaction with people
- It is necessary to provide support
- People in a vulnerable position
Note: It can be concluded that the very nature of the nursing profession suggests that they are capable of empathy. Patients seek care and expect to be treated with great compassion. They are in a vulnerable position because they cannot cope with their health problems on their own.
High Demand for Medicine and the Needs of Patients
- The importance of empathy abilities
- High demand for health care services
- Patients’ needs will be met
- The huge role of nursing skills (Coladonato & Manning, 2017)
Note: Well-developed empathy abilities are necessary to carry out nursing as effectively as possible. Given the current high demand for health care services, nurses and their skills become the only guarantee that patients’ needs will be met (Coladonato & Manning, 2017).
The Importance of Emotional Intelligence for Nurses
- The correlation between leadership and EI (Hirai & Yoshioka, 2021)
- EI in problem solving
- Making decisions in nursing
- Establishing collaboration
Note: The leadership skills of nurses are directly related to the extent to which their emotional intelligence is developed (Hirai & Yoshioka, 2021). The processes of making decisions or establishing collaboration are inconceivable without the ability to manage emotions and understand the feelings of others.
Conclusion
- Successful functioning of health care and EI
- Everyone experiences emotions
- Difficulties expressing emotions
- EI as a basis for nursing work
Note: Without nurses’ emotional intelligence and developed leadership abilities, the normal functioning of the health care system is unthinkable. Although all people have the ability to feel emotion, not everyone can do so correctly. For nurses, however, these skills become the foundation of their work and contribute to their professional goals.
References
Coladonato, A. R., & Manning, M. L. (2017). Nurse leader emotional intelligence: How does it affect clinical nurse job satisfaction? Nursing Management, 48(9), 26–32. Web.
Hirai, Y., & Yoshioka, S. I. (2020). Emotional intelligence and work perceptions among nurse managers. Yonago Acta Medica, 63(4), 343–352. Web.
Mansel, B., & Einion, A. (2019). ‘It’s the relationship you develop with them’: Emotional intelligence in nurse leadership. A qualitative study. British Journal of Nursing, 28(21), 1400–1408. Web.
Prezerakos P. E. (2018). Nurse managers’ emotional intelligence and effective leadership: A review of the current evidence. The Open Nursing Journal, 12, 86–92. Web.