Nurses reminded, show compassion

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Deputy Chairman of the SWRHA Valerie Alleyne-Rawlins reminded nurses of the grave importance of their role. “We are most times the first and the last person seen by the patient on entering and leaving the world.” As such, nurses require more than mere academic intelligence which they all proved to have by way of being accepted into the profession.

Nurses also require “emotional intelligence”, a skill which “is synonymous with nursing yet somehow in today’s world we seem to have now made it optional.” But thankfully, emotional intelligence is a skill that can be learned, said Alleyne-Rawlins and the workshop was held to facilitate just that.

Economist Dr Stephen Pilgrim kicked off the presentations by introducing the topic of emotional intelligence.

Pilgrim told a story of a mother who, upon losing half of her twin children in childbirth, was told by a medical professional, “at least you still have one.” The tendency to treat with people’s trauma by trying to find the “silver lining” with terms like, ‘at least’, he said, is a sign of weak emotional intelligence that should not be part of the medical profession.

Pilgrim helped nurses discover their “Emotional Quotient” (EQ or level of emotional intelligence) by first teaching them the components of the skill and then leading them through a lengthy self-assessment questionaire.

Dr Cletus Kennedy Bertin closed off the day’s proceedings by showing those gathered ways in which they could apply the knowledge in real life situations.