Emotional intelligence (EI) is increasingly being seen as an important competency within nursing, which helps the professional to cope better with the emotional complexities involved in patient care

Jose B

Emotional intelligence (EI) is increasingly being seen as an important competency within nursing, which helps the professional to cope better with the emotional complexities involved in patient care. EI is the ability to understand and manage one’s emotions while also being able to recognize and respond to the emotional states of others. Such a skill among the nurses, who are in frequent contact with patients and their families while they are in distress, ensures compassionate and patient-centered care. Research has, therefore, proved that nurses with a high EI can manage stressful situations and easily gain their patient’s trust, improving their outcomes. In nursing practice, EI enhances communication, reduces misunderstandings, and boosts the quality of care.

Nurses deal with patients and their families, who are at times distressed emotionally, and such interactions must be managed both with empathy and professionalism. Emotional intelligence allows the nurse to acknowledge and support the feelings of the patients, which in turn makes the patients feel seen, heard, and understood. This emotional awareness is important for the well-being of the nurses themselves, as nurses who tend to their emotional state are less likely to suffer from burnout and compassion fatigue (Morrow et al., 2023). EI further enhances a supportive and cohesive healthcare team through understanding and cooperation among colleagues, which is important for ensuring safety and quality in patient care.

Although interrelated, clinical judgment, critical thinking, and decision-making remain delineated skills. Clinical judgment is conceptualized as the interpretation of patient data to identify appropriate action based on prior experience and knowledge, whereas critical thinking represents a multifaceted, broader process in which information is analyzed and synthesized; decision-making represents the nexus between these processes, where choices deliberate the best course of action (Calcagni et al., 2023). While the bedside nurse might make rapid decisions based on urgent patient needs, the advanced practice nurse may make more complex, diagnosis-related decisions, developing long-term care plans.

The roles of the bedside nurse and the APN are reflective of the differences in decision-making. For instance, the bedside nurse may have to make immediate comfort intervention decisions, such as adjustment of position or modification of pain management strategy to eliminate distress. In contrast, an APN would make either diagnostic or therapeutic decisions based on greater knowledge of the patient’s health history and would have to balance clinical reasoning against empathy. It allows the bedside nurse and the APN to respond compassionately and appropriately when patients or family members become anxious or fearful (Lampreia-Raposo et al., 2022). Emotional intelligence, therefore, optimizes compassionate and efficient care in complex nursing interactions.

Emotional intelligence can be described as the competence to perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions in oneself and others. In perspective, to an individual who has never heard of this concept, it means being emotionally self-aware, empathic, and competent in regulating emotions according to the amount of stress. The implication of EI in a clinical setting would be the ability to notice the fear of a patient undergoing a diagnostic procedure and, therefore, be able to respond with empathy and patience through supportive communication. A level of sensitivity like that not only reassures the patients but also leads to a collaborative partnership since the patients are usually respected and valued (Raeissi et al., 2019). Thus, EI facilitates compassionate, patient-centered, and effective nursing care.

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