Empathy is used to describe a wide range of experiences. It is the “capacity” to share and understand other people’s emotions and another’s “state of mind”. Empathy is being able to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling while maintaining a state of vulnerability to one’s previous experiences, biases, and emotions. Empathy is a very powerful concept that is often misunderstood or discounted for its importance, especially for health care professionals. The use of empathy, vulnerability, and compassion are traits that can be learned, and it determines someone’s emotional intelligence. This paper will discuss the major concepts, history, and definitions of emotional intelligence. Furthermore, it will delve into the application in nursing practice, my own personal practice, as well as how it has led to my personal growth. Utilizing the leadership role of emotional intelligence allows nurses and other professionals to become vulnerable in their practice in order to build strong connections, relationships, and most importantly, to become more connected with themselves. This leadership role will set us up for success in order to create an environment for optimal functioning, and to achieve the desired therapeutic results for our patients.
History, Background, Definitions, and Major Concepts It wasn’t until the year 1920 that different types of intelligence were defined. It was proposed by a man named EL Thorndike, and he separated the different types of
The care that I will give my patient will also involve being empathic. This will enhance the development of the therapeutic relationship that will finally improve the outcomes. Compassion and empathy will make my patients more forthcoming with their symptoms. This yields accurate diagnosis. It also improves care given to patients. The interaction that takes place during this process affects the patient's recovery process. I also intend to cultivate a culture of trust between me and my patients. It has to be there for me to realize effective therapeutic relationship that leads to job satisfaction.
Emotional intelligence refers to an ability to recognize the meanings of emotion and its therapeutic relationships, and to reasons for problem-solving in nursing. This is involved in the capacity to recognize emotions, adapt emotion-related to feelings, understand the information of those emotions, and manage it. Reflective practice is a process by which one stops and think about their practice, knowingly analyse ones decision making and clarifying ones thoughts and doubts. As a result, one may modify ones actions, behaviour, treatments and learning needs. Therapeutic relationship, also known as the helping team,
The importance of empathy in any helping profession, medical or social, cannot be overstated. The workers that exemplified it in their practice did the best that they could with their limited resources.
Hannah, B.B. & Virginia, T. (2012). The use of empathy in human services: Strategies for diverse professional roles. Journal of Human Services, 32 (1): 72-84
An emotionally intelligent individual manages personal situations and relationships with balance and care. Daniel Goleman, a psychologist and author, believes the four domains of emotional intelligence are self-awareness, self-management, empathy, and the combination of the above. When these four domains work congruently it stabilizes an individual in both work and home relationship (Goleman, 2013). A human service worker offers an effective service to the client when socially balanced and focused on developing healthy levels of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is demonstrated both in the workplace and at home by how situations
Often in the social work field, a clinical will hear the term emotional intelligence and the five domains associated with it, which are relationships, tolerance, flexibility, self-management, and emotional awareness. There are many different definitions of emotional intelligence, but it has been described as the ability to motivate oneself and continue in the face of frustrations; to manage impulse and delay gratification; to regulate ones moods and keep distress from overtaking the ability to think; to empathize and to hope (Morrison, 2007). Regarding the social work field, emotional intelligence is something that all clinicians need to be aware of and how it applies. A clinician needs to be able to listen and build empathy when working with others, understand non-verbal communication and its effects, and have self-awareness of how working with others can affect the clinician emotionally (Morrison, 2007). It is crucial to be able to monitor your own feelings and emotions as well as being able to monitor your client’s feelings and emotions.
While in most circumstances, empathy is a crucial tool in understanding the patient and their problems, there is also a distinct line drawn between the appropriate amount of empathy and going overboard. Healthcare professionals should be aware that while empathy is an important factor of their jobs, it is just as important to not become emotionally involved in patients’ lives. A careful balancing act is needed in order to sustain the appropriate level of empathy without letting the emotional rollercoasters of patient lives interfere with the work and personal life of the healthcare professional.
Today,emotional intelligence is probed as an important characteristic for building successful nursing
In conclusion, this book showed me that empathy is a powerful communication tool that needs to be used in heath care. When I become a nurse one day, I want to show empathy to my patients and help them with their best needs (so if that means losing sleep than so be
Empathy is the ability to understand and share feelings or concerns with another person and is shown by putting yourself in your patient’s shoes, and showing sympathy towards others. Empathy in the health industry involves the ability to understand the patient’s feelings, situation, and perspective. Nurses must be able to understand and communicate with patients to help them in a helpful, therapeutic way. Empathy can be used by a nurse to be supportive, empower their patients to cope or learn, and to resolve problems (Mercer & Reynolds,
There has been research done to discover how patients perceive the empathy expressed by their health care providers
The use of empathy within nursing practice requires the use of three major skills, which
There are many definitions of emotional intelligence. Daniel Goleman discussed this theory in his 1995 book titled, Emotional Intelligence. From the ideas of Mr. Goleman, nurses may find a more useful definition for this profession than from the previous notions of Salovey & Mayer (1990) who simplified emotional
"Emotional Intelligence is a way of recognizing, understanding, and choosing how we think, feel, and act. It shapes our interactions with others and our understanding of ourselves. It defines how and what we learn; it allows us to set priorities; it determines the majority of our daily actions. Research suggests it is responsible for as much as 80% of the "success" in our lives." The Effective leader requires a high degree of Emotional Intelligence. In this study, the various skills of Emotional Intelligence can be related with real situations. The various skills of Emotional Intelligence are Self awareness, self regulation, motivation, Empathy, social skill. People with high self-awareness are also able
Nursing as a profession has many facets but one unifying principle is caring (Watson, 1979; Benner & Wrubel, 1989). The concept of empathy has much been deliberated upon over the years from different perspectives due to its subjectivity. According to the CNO, “empathy is the expression of understanding, validating and resonating with the meaning that the health care experience holds for the client” (CNO, 2006). Empathy aids nurses to have more insight as to what clients need. Empathy has been undermined in its role in the relationship between nurses and clients but it is important to note that there are many concepts involved in an effective nurse-client relationship and one of which is empathy (CNO, 2006).