oneself and others. Using emotion to facilitate thinking is the second branch. This branch enhances an individual’s ability to assimilate emotion to facilitate thinking and to prioritise thinking and judgements.
Understanding emotion follows as the third branch, which allows application of the emotional knowledge gained in the first two levels of skills to translate emotions to meaning within the context of events. The highest level of the skills of emotional intelligence is the conscious regulation and management of emotion. This level of the model allows the nursing associate to remain receptive to emotional information while reflecting on the usefulness of it. This reflective skill provides the ability to evaluate emotional reactions not only within self but also those conveyed by others.
Touch Point
Emotional intelligence can be described as the ability to monitor or control own emotions, as well to the emotions of those around you. This involves recognising feelings, self‐awareness, how emotions affect relationships and also how this can be managed.
Table 6.1 Branches and characteristics of emotional intelligence theoretical framework.
Source: Based on Mayer & Salovey (1997).
| BRANCH 1 | BRANCH 2 | BRANCH 3 | BRANCH 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perceiving emotions (PE) | Facilitating thought with emotions (FE) | Understanding emotions (UE) | Managing emotions (ME) |
| Characteristics | Characteristics | Characteristics | Characteristics |
| Self‐awarenessEmotional self‐awarenessAccurate self‐assessmentSelf‐confidenceGauging the moodTuning into your sense | Emotional self‐controlCognitive process – comprehension of language, learning, reasoning, problem‐solving, decision‐makingIntuitionInitiativeAdaptabilityConscientiousnessTrustworthiness | EmpathyRecognitionClinical reasoningCritical thinkingClinical judgement | CommunicationWorking as a team – working towards similar goalsNurturing relationships – buildings rapportChange agentLeadershipDeveloping self and others – personal growthInfluencesConflicts |
Eraut (2000) purposes two distinct elements of knowledge from which information is gathered; knowledge embedded in routines and protocols and knowledge that is explicitly needed at the time – intuition. Such knowledge may influence how the patient is assessed, what decisions are made and/or how the nursing associate interacts with the patient. Intuition is often proposed as one of the defining characteristics of expertise and has been the topic of considerable debate. Some believe that it does not exist (English 1993, cited in den Hertog & Niessen 2019), while others advocate intuition in nursing as a genuine phenomenon (Benner 1984).
Intuition is characterised has ‘having a gut feeling’ about something which might impress ‘a bystander of the suddenness and nearly magical nature of these behaviours’ (Gobet & Chassy 2008, p. 130). In general, intuition involves a rapid perception, lack of awareness of the process engaged, associated presence of emotions and holistic understanding of the problem situation (Benner 1984; Gobet & Chassy 2008). Mayer & Salovey (1997) proposed that some individuals possess greater ability than others to reason about and use emotionally intense information to enhance both cognitive activity and social functioning.
Our ability to perceive, process and manage emotional information varies greatly. Nursing is an emotionally demanding healthcare practice, and nursing associates need to understand their own emotions and perceptions in order to understand a patient’s needs and hence develop a therapeutic relationship; by using our emotions, judgements are formed, and decisions are acted upon (James et al. 2010).
Tools for Gathering Relevant Information
Gathering relevant information is an important aspect of knowing the patient, and it can be challenging to determine exactly what information is needed to be appropriately informed in any given clinical situation. On occasions, it is also difficult to determine how to gather such information effectively. Some of this information is gathered through the development of what is known as the therapeutic nurse–patient relationship (Wiechula et al. 2016). Establishing such a relationship begins the moment the nursing associate meets the patient (Feo et al. 2017), and at this point, the nursing associate is required to draw upon their verbal and non‐verbal communication skills and use of the senses and physical touch.
Supporting Evidence
Person‐centred care and fundamental care are two interconnected areas in which nursing policy and healthcare reform are focusing on. Both initiatives highlight a positive nurse–patient relationship. For these initiatives to work, nurses need guidance with regards to how they can best develop and maintain relationships with patients. This study explains a novel methodological approach, known as holistic interpretive synthesis, for interpreting empirical research findings to create practice‐relevant recommendations for nurses. The recommendations for the nurse–patient relationship created through this approach can be used by nurses to establish, maintain and evaluate therapeutic relationships with patients as they strive to deliver person‐centred fundamental care.
Source: Feo et al. (2017)
A study by Bundgaard et al. (2012) illustrates through an investigation of what knowing the patient meant in an endoscopy clinic. These authors identified two themes: what to know and how to get to know. Nurse’s information focused on practical issues related to the endoscopic procedure. Categories of necessary knowledge included anxiety, medication and previous experience. Nurses were reported to have uncovered the necessary information to ‘get to know’ their patient by using their senses and communication skills. These reflect the characteristics of emotional intelligence as stipulated by Mayer & Salovey (1997) (see Table 6.1), whereby skills and abilities such as self and emotional awareness, emotional self‐control, empathy, comprehensive interpretation of language, active listening, tuning into and picking up on patient cues, verbal and non‐verbal behaviours, intuition, clinical reasoning, clinical judgements, problem‐solving and reflection all play an important role in getting to know the patient.
When greeting a patient or in any nurse–patient encounter, the nursing associates’ goal is to set aside distractions and to give the patient their undivided attention. This requires the nursing associates to demonstrate the ability to be physically and mentally present in every interaction and the ability to prioritise relationship building. This focused attention may also help the nursing associate to shield the patient from the commotion and activity of the setting. Moreover, it may assist the nursing associate in what to anticipate and even in detecting small changes in the patient’s condition (Kitson et al. 2013; Feo et al. 2017).
Orange Flag
The nursing associate
