As a health worker, what would be your answer if you were asked; what is emotional intelligence in the health sector? Well, which ever way you choose to answer it depends on what you understand.
But hey!
Let me help you with the simplest way to answer this question with 100% good ratings whenever you are asked “what is emotional intelligence?” and some good examples of emotional intelligence, not only in the health sector.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand and manage our own emotions as well as recognize, understand and influence the emotions of others.
In practical terms, this means being aware that emotions can drive our behavior and impact people (positively and negatively), and learning how we cab improve our emotional intelligence and manage those emotions - both our own and others - especially when we are under pressure for better relationships with our clients and colleagues.
How To Apply Emotional Intelligence In The Health Sector
To apply EI (EQ) in the health sector, you need to learn the following objectives:
But hey!
Let me help you with the simplest way to answer this question with 100% good ratings whenever you are asked “what is emotional intelligence?” and some good examples of emotional intelligence, not only in the health sector.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand and manage our own emotions as well as recognize, understand and influence the emotions of others.
In practical terms, this means being aware that emotions can drive our behavior and impact people (positively and negatively), and learning how we cab improve our emotional intelligence and manage those emotions - both our own and others - especially when we are under pressure for better relationships with our clients and colleagues.
How To Apply Emotional Intelligence In The Health Sector
To apply EI (EQ) in the health sector, you need to learn the following objectives:
- Core Emotional Intelligence Skills: Some core EI skills that you need, as a health worker to succeed in serving others include:
- Knowing yourself
- Maintaining Control
- Reading Others
- Communicating with flexibility
Knowing Yourself: This means recognizing your emotions, being able to differentiate b emotions and understanding the trigger for emotions to evaluate a situation and make more objective decisions.
Maintaining Control: This means resisting or delaying an urge to act, controlling aggression, hostility or irresponsive behavior. This skill enables you to remain calm during chaos or confusion especially when others are displaying their emotions in an aggressive way.
Reading Others: This means being aware of the emotions of others and appreciating them, understanding how and why people feel and act as they do.
Communicating With Flexibility: This means being trustworthy and being able to manage your emotions. Communicating with flexibility helps you to manage your relationships more effectively with your clients.
Difference between quality and Quality of care
Maintaining Control: This means resisting or delaying an urge to act, controlling aggression, hostility or irresponsive behavior. This skill enables you to remain calm during chaos or confusion especially when others are displaying their emotions in an aggressive way.
Reading Others: This means being aware of the emotions of others and appreciating them, understanding how and why people feel and act as they do.
Communicating With Flexibility: This means being trustworthy and being able to manage your emotions. Communicating with flexibility helps you to manage your relationships more effectively with your clients.
- Continuous Quality Improvement For RI And PHC Management
The main objective of CQI is for health workers:
- To become familiar with the quality and CQI concepts in health care and PHC management
- To understand how to identify quality problems and use Quality improvement tools to resolve problems
- To understand how to plan and solve problems in the facility.
Difference between quality and Quality of care
Quality: Quality can be said to be a distinctive attribute or characteristic possessed by someone or something.
Quality of care: Quality of Care is the degree to which health services for individuals and populations increases the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge, e.g.:
- Improve health care quality
- Improve RI access and utilization
- Increase in client satisfaction and patronage
- Improve efficiency among RI providers and managers in the various primary health center
- Improve quality and safety of immunization and other PH services.
What is Continuous Quality Improvement?
CQI is an approach that constantly seeks to improve service delivery to meet the needs of the clients you serve.
- It's a process that helps health facilities to increase efficiency
- It's is also an ongoing process that evaluates how a health facility or works and finds way to improve its Processes in order to improve the quality of services.
Benefits of Continuous Quality Improvement in Primary Health Care are that it increases the following:
- PHC performance
- Effectiveness
- Client satisfaction
- Expected Outcomes
- Health worker morale
- Knowledge of health worker
- Demand for services.
Basic Principles of Quality Improvement
- Focus on the patient: The client is the King! Your client should be the focus of all you do! Think about it, there won't be work for you to do if there are no patients/clients utilizing the PHCs - you will be out of jobs! As a health workers, you should ask yourself - how do I meet patient needs and expectations?
- Focus on Systems: Understand the process (method of care) - most problems are found in processes, not in people
- Learn From The Best Practices: Do not reinvent the wheel. - copy and shares, idea shamelessly and share senselessly.
- Focus on the Data: decision making is based upon using evidence. Data is the bedrock of CQI! You need data to demonstrate that the change you implement has led to an improvement
- Team Work: We should also focus on team work because quality improvement involves all employees and requires everyone's responsibility!.
Final Word: Be dedicated to quality improvement within the whole RI and PHC system and remember the client is the King. Try your best as much as you can to satisfy them.
