Nurses' Emotional Intelligence Skills in Approaching the Critically Ill (Atena Editora)

Abstract

Framework: The control of emotions is crucial to act in the approach to the critically ill, requiring cognitive intelligence skills and, mainly, emotional intelligence skills. Since nurses are the health professionals who spend more time with patients and their families, it is important that they are able to control their emotions and understand those of patients, so that their actions are more individualized and personalized. Due to the complexity and unpredictability of the pathologies inherent to these patients, their care can lead to greater physical and psychological exhaustion, hence the importance of using emotional intelligence skills. Objective: To describe the scientific evidence on nurses' EI skills when approaching critically ill patients. Methodology: An integrative literature review study was carried out. During the month of March 2023, an online search was carried out in the databases CINAHL Complete, Nursing & Allied Health Collection: Comprehensive (both via EBSCO Host), Scielo and PubMed, and an integrative review of three studies was carried out. Results: After critical analysis, it was shown that nurses use the four skills defined by Goleman in 2011, with self-awareness being the most evident. Relationship management was the second most emphasized competence, followed by social awareness and self-management, the competences identified as less frequent, with the latter revealed, according to a study, to have a negative impact on the provision of care. Conclusion: Nurses use the four skills defined by Goleman in 2011 in their practice, namely self-awareness, relationship management, social awareness and self-management.