Emotional intelligence: predictor of employees' wellbeing, quality of patient care, and psychological empowerment

'I had to Educate Myself': A thematic analysis of online stillbirth stories to improve obstetric care

OBJECTIVE

To examine which met and unmet needs are discussed in stillbirth stories shared on YouTube with the aim to improve obstetric care.

DESIGN

Inductive thematic analysis of 19 English-language stillbirth stories uploaded to YouTube.

SETTING

Online setting, YouTube video content.

SAMPLE

Women who experienced stillbirth and shared a video on YouTube talking about their experience.

METHODS

We conducted a thorough textual reading of the transcripts following Braun and Clarke's guidelines for thematic analysis.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Codes were developed and grouped into themes.

RESULTS

Although some women actively used their birth videos to call out shortcomings in their care, most others used their platform for other purposes such as destigmatisation, awareness and support, and rather unintentionally provided insight into their met and unmet needs. When analysing their birth stories, three major themes emerged: choice and decision-making, education and information, and behaviour of healthcare providers.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates the value of birth stories in research. We identified three major opportunities for improvement of obstetric care: being provided with options and being able to make choices in the decision-making process are clearly valued, but there are some caveats: women and other childbearing individuals need timely and continuous information, and more attention is needed for emotional intelligence training of healthcare providers.

Building resilient hospital information technology services through organizational learning: Lessons in CIO leadership during an international systemic crisis in the United States and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic was an international systemic crisis which required an unprecedented response to quickly drive the digital transformation of hospitals and health care systems to support high quality health care while adhering to contagion management protocols.

OBJECTIVE

To identify and assess the best practices during the COVID-19 pandemic by Chief Information Officers (CIOs) about how to build resilient healthcare IT (HIT) to improve pandemic preparedness and response across global settings and to develop recommendations for future pandemics.

METHODS

We conducted a qualitative, interview-based study to sample CIOs in hospitals. We interviewed 16 CIOs from hospitals and health systems in the United States and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. We used in-depth interviews to capture their perspectives of the preparedness of hospitals' information technology departments for the pandemic and how they lead their IT department out of the pandemic.

RESULTS

Results showed that healthcare CIOs were ambidextrous IT leaders who built resilient HIT by rapidly improving existing digital business practices and creating innovative IT solutions. Ambidextrous IT leadership involved exploiting existing IT resources as well as exploring and innovating for continuous growth. IT resiliency focused on four inter-related capabilities: ambidextrous leadership, governance, innovation and learning, and HIT infrastructure.

CONCLUSIONS

We propose conceptual frameworks to guide the development of healthcare IT resilience and highlight the importance of organizational learning as an integral component of HIT resiliency.

Factors influencing caring behaviour among registered nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic in China: A qualitative study using the COM-B framework

AIM

The aim of this work is to explore the influencing factors of nurses' caring behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation as determinants of Behaviour (COM-B) theoretical framework.

BACKGROUND

Nurse caring behaviour is vital to reduce and speed up the healing process of COVID-19 patients. It is important to understand the factors that influence caring behaviour among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research suggests that when it comes to understanding behaviour, using a theoretical framework is likely to be most effective, and the COM-B framework is a recommended approach.

METHODS

Semistructured interviews with 42 nurses working in 11 Chinese cities were conducted, and their verbatim statements were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. The results were mapped to COM-B framework.

RESULTS

Ten key themes emerged: Capability (professional knowledge and skills, emotional intelligence, cross-cultural care competence); opportunity (resources, organizational culture, social culture); motivation (past experience, character, role, beliefs).

CONCLUSIONS

Ten factors were found to influence nurses' caring behaviour. This study added two new influencing factors, social culture and past experiences, that further contributed to the understanding of nurses' care behaviours.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Nurses' caring behaviour is influenced not only by themselves but also by institutions and society, so interventions aiming to improve their caring behaviour should consider these elements. The negative impact of the pandemic on capability factors that influence nurses' caring behaviour should be counteracted as soon as possible.

The effect of home visit simulation on emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, empowerment, and stress in nursing students. A single group pre-post intervention study

BACKGROUND

Clinical simulation, the teaching methodology used in the Nursing Degree, helps students to acquire certain skills. Home visiting is a complex scenario in community care that requires certain critical skills in order to function successfully.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to analyze the improvement of self-efficacy, empowerment, management of emotions and perceived stress of nursing students through clinical simulation during home visits.

DESIGN

A quasi-experimental study was carried out.

PARTICIPANTS

A sample of Students of the 2nd year of the Nursing Degree.

METHODS

A high-fidelity simulation programme was implemented in two sessions. The variables that were measured were: self-efficacy (General Self-efficacy Scale), empowerment (Spreitzer Psychological Empowerment Scale), emotional intelligence (Trait Meta-Mood Scale-24), and perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale).

RESULTS

170 students with a mean age of 22.2 years took part. An increase in general self-efficacy, self-determination, impact, empowerment (total score), and emotional clarity was observed after the intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinical simulation as a teaching methodology allows the development of skills and competencies that are necessary for nursing students to be able to function in community settings such as home care. Therefore, this teaching methodology should be integrated into University Community Nursing training programmes.

Job Satisfaction and Associated Factors among Physicians

Job satisfaction of the employees represents the significant factor for the effective functioning of the medical facilities. The aim of this study is to examine job satisfaction of physicians and to explore its associated factors. Quantitative study method is applied in this study. Two hundred and nine physicians from the large medical facilities in Tbilisi (Georgia) are participated in the survey. The most important components of satisfaction were: relation with managers (78.5%), relations with colleagues (77%), communication with patients (73.5%), possibility of continuous medical education (74.2%), and service quality (66%). Younger physicians were more likely to be dissatisfied than older physicians. Women were less satisfied with workload rather than men, which can be related with burden of solving the family issues for them, besides the career. Majority of the inquired respondents are not satisfied with ongoing incomes and remuneration methods. Family physicians seemed to be especially dissatisfied with remuneration. Most of the interviewed physicians (76%) assessed work/life balance in range of 1-3 points. Particular dissatisfaction was stated by the doctor-specialists, referring that they do not work with normal work schedule and their work/life balance is infringed. Satisfaction level depends on multiple factors (communication with patients, intellectual stimulation, possibility of CME, relationship with colleagues and managers). The main recommendation is a need to address job satisfaction among physicians in order to improve the quality of health care. Attention to working conditions, career and professional development, and salary/incentives is critical for sustaining the continuity of quality health care in Georgia.

Emotional Intelligence and Productive Relationships with Patients and Colleagues

A higher degree of emotional intelligence among health professionals has been shown to result in better patient care and improved wellbeing of the health professional. For nuclear medicine, emotional competence of staff and emotional proficiency of institutions, are important expectations. Nonetheless, there is a paucity of material outlining purposeful honing of emotional intelligence, or the tools for such development, across the literature. While the hidden curriculum provides powerful and authentic educational opportunities, incidental or accidental (organic) capability development does not benefit overall professionalism. Deliberate curricula can be achieved through a scaffold of emotional training and immersion programs that allow the nuclear medicine student or practitioner to recognize and foster emotionally safe environments. This requires careful planning to drive the emotional intelligence pipeline. Central to this is an understanding of learning taxonomies. There remain substantial gaps between the most and least emotionally insightful that could be addressed by rich immersive activities targeting emotional proficiency among students and the graduate workforce.

Personality traits and quality of life among Lebanese medical students: any mediating effect of emotional intelligence? A path analysis approach

BACKGROUND

Medicine is an incredibly demanding career that appears to leave many medical students at risk of fatigue, anxiety, depression and burnout. Since adaptation and lifestyle changes are important, quality of life (QOL) of students during medical school could be impaired. Personality traits and emotional intelligence (EI) facets may be both linked to medical student's QOL. To our knowledge, no studies have been done on the concurrent and prospective relationship between QOL-related personality traits and EI in Lebanese medical students. This study aimed to investigate the role of EI as a mediator between personality traits and QOL among a sample of Lebanese medical students.

METHODS

This research is a descriptive cross-sectional survey study involving 293 Lebanese medical students recruited from all 7 Faculties of Medicine in Lebanon (June-December 2019). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed using SPSS AMOS v.24 to examine the structural relationship between each personality trait taken as independent variables, QOL as the dependent variable, and emotional intelligence as the mediator, among university students. The relative Chi-square (χ²/df), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) statistic, Tucker Lewis Index (TFI) and the comparative fit index (CFI) were used to evaluate the goodness-of-fit of the model.

RESULTS

Higher conscientiousness was significantly associated with more EI (Beta = 0.38; p < 0.001) and lower QOL (Beta = - 0.14; p = 0.025). The indirect relationships between conscientiousness, EI and QOL showed that EI mediated the association between conscientiousness and QOL (Beta = 0.17; 95% CI - 0.73 to - 0.004; p = 0.037). The fit indices of this model were adequate for χ²/df, RMSEA and CFI but not TLI. Higher openness to experience was significantly associated with more EI (Beta = 0.48; p < 0.001) and lower QOL (Beta = - 0.38; p < 0.001). The indirect relationships between openness to experience, EI and QOL showed that EI mediated the association between openness to experience and QOL (Beta = 0.30; 95% CI - 1.11 to - 0.03; p = 0.04). The fit indices were adequate for χ²/df and CFI but not RMSEA and TLI. EI did not mediate the association between the other three personality traits (extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism) and QOL.

CONCLUSION

This current research has shed considerable light on the nexus of associations between EI, personality traits and well-being, nonetheless, led to the creation of more puzzling questions. On the whole, it seems that EI and its components can be used as an evaluation instrument in relates with Lebanese medical students' personality profile as a means of future training to improve quality of life during medical education.

Parents' Emotion Management for Personal Well-Being When Challenged by Their Online Work and Their Children's Online School

Parents' emotional management was highly required during the COVID-19 lockdown, as juggling as their own job moved online and with being a parent of a child whose school was online proved to be a challenge for many. Our sample was restricted to parents who had to work online from their homes while their children had to attend school online, as external imposed conditions. The present study was based on Mayer and Salovey's theory and we aimed to investigate the relationship between parents' emotional intelligence and their ability to manage their emotions during this period, hypothesizing that a higher emotional intelligence and well-developed emotional management abilities contribute to better adjustment to everyday challenges, thus contributing to keeping levels of exhaustion low. The double role played by these adults strained their resources, therefore we were also interested in their level of burnout after almost a year spent in a home turned into office and school. We also investigated the participants' level of flourishing, as described by Ed Diener, as these changes impacted differently on every parent's well-being. The analysis of the data obtained offered us the possibility of issuing a series of recommendations for parents' well-being in such a situation, as the prospect of continuing to work and learn online in future seems very real. The need to set clear boundaries between the roles played in these settings emerged as a main objective of future therapeutic interventions based on positive psychology.