Emotional Intelligence in Health and Social Care Delivery Neslyn Watson-Druée December 09, 2013 The rhetoric and practice of the UK Government on health and social care delivery are strained because sometimes austerity measures have an impact on care providers. The application of emotional intelligence in health and social care delivery is crucial. (Newswire.net -- December 9, 2013) Kingston-upon-Thames , Surrey -Upholding the standard of treating patients and service users with respect, dignity and compassion is the benchmark for high quality care. In this article I will be discussing three Emotional Intelligence & Austerity elements of emotional intelligence which have application to providing care with respect, dignity and compassion namely self-awareness, empathy, relationship skills and self-reliance.
Empathy is defined as the ability to relate to the feelings and emotions of others. Empathy is “tuning in” (being sensitive) to what, how and why people feel and think the way they do. When you are empathetic towards another you are able to “emotionally read” the other person. Empathy is an extremely powerful interpersonal tool in the delivery of health and social care. You are less able to show appropriate empathy in the absence of reflective listening which is required in order understand the needs of the other person.
So what are the issues in regard to respect, dignity and compassion for health and social care practitioners? To gain some perspective, I spoke to a small sample of nurses social workers. While I cannot generalise from their comments, however, I thought the issues raised are worthy of wider discussion.
Q. What are your perspectives as to how you measure up to providing care that is respectful, dignified and compassionate?
A. I want to provide compassionate care that is what I am trained to do and that is why I came into the profession. In the current climate the drive for efficiency does not allow me to give consistent compassionate care – it is a hit and miss, some days are better than others. I have to see so many patients within a day sometimes I am held up in traffic in getting from one patient to the other. When I get to the patient I am pushed to focus on the physical needs. There is little time to listen to worries and concerns, if I do, I find that it affects my appraisal as I being seen as not being very efficient.
It is a challenge, I am a senior nurse and I work to set an example. We are understaffed and it means that when I give my very best to one patient another has to wait. I would like to be more timely but all I can do is my very best, which means that carry on until the work is done irrespective of my schedule. It takes its toll on my tiredness and I sometimes wonder about burn out.
You know as a social worker, you are dammed if you do and you are dammed if you don’t. I have a large case load of families, approximately a third are on the at risk register. It is no use continuing to raise the issues because they fall on deaf ears. Not that line managers don’t really want to address the issues. The resources are not available. I do the best I can and I hope for the best, that one of my cases don’t completely go off the rail.
As I listen to the last comment, my own empathy with the practitioner was heightened. What does it mean to have your own professional dignity compromised when you know that you are not giving of your best? I wondered if there were any evidence of issues being raised more widely. To that end, I decided to do limited search on the Internet.
I did not have to look very far. I have seen that there is much comment in Community Care like 100 quotes from social workers that the Government shouldn’t ignore http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2013/11/25/100-quotes-social-workers-government-shouldntignore/#.UqWy3uKuHws http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2013/09/03/social-workers-caseload-concerns-often-fall-on-deafears-survey-shows/#.UqWyZeKuHws
Compassionate care is not always about resource it may mean that we need to heed listen to the stories of the care providers and listen to their concerns in order to find more appropriate solutions.
As a core judge for the UK Nursing Standard Nurse of the Year Awards, I see the very best nurses delivering care with respect, dignity and compassion. For what it is worth, I offer my personal reflection on what is it that makes the difference between the very best examples that I have seen and examples of poor care that gets reported. That reflection steered me to narrow some of best examples down to three core skills that demonstrate emotional intelligence in health and social
care delivery.
Firstly, all the nurses demonstrate effective leadership, underpinned by self-awareness of high professional standards, awareness of client and patient needs: physical, emotional and sociospiritual, awareness of working in partnership with the patient or client, awareness of multidisciplinary team working and partnership.
Secondly, those nurses demonstrate empathy with a good dose of relationship skills. In the context of emotional intelligence relationship skills are important because a good understanding of the impact of good relationships helps you to be more effective with people.
Thirdly, self-reliance which is the capacity to trust yourself to do the right thing is highly visible. Self-reliance is at the heart of emotionally intelligence in health and social care delivery. The journey starts with accepting responsibility. There are three elements to self-reliance (a) Independence – independent self-directed (b) Self Belief – Confidence in your judgement (c) Ability to make decisions and take personal responsibility.
I believe that the root of emotional intelligence in health and social care delivery anchors what a skilled professional or a leader does well. This emotional element is sometimes invisible and often ignored.
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