In recent times, starting with the covid-19 pandemic, the world has become aware of the importance of health care workers. Health care professionals are the support that people look up to in tough times. Their services are like the light at the end of a tunnel. Without health professionals, there wouldn’t be much hope for a better tomorrow, especially when the entire world is facing a health-based problem such as the covid-19 pandemic. 

Talking specifically about nurses, they play an essential role in treating patients. The nurses offer support not only to the patients but also to patients’ families. Is it just physical treatment for health issues that nurses offer? Well, not exactly! 

Not only do nurses provide health treatment, but they also offer emotional support, which aids in the recovery of patients significantly. It might not be evident to many people, but the emotional support from nurses can make the entire recovery process of a patient much easier & stress-free. 

Emotional support can enhance the physical treatment that physicians or nurses provide patients. Let us discuss how nurses can offer emotional support to their patients.  

Shortage of Health-Care Professionals:

There is an evident shortage of healthcare professionals across the globe. This means that there is a high demand for nurses now more than ever. Nursing is a profession that offers great benefits. Most importantly, it allows one to change people’s lives for good. From physical treatment to emotional support, nurses can improve people’s lives. If you’re planning on becoming a nurse, now is definitely a good time to enter the field! 

People are now enrolling in institutes to get degrees in nursing. Thanks to the rise in online education, there are online post master’s certificate nurse practitioner programs available for students who need to balance work and study life. 

5 Ways Nurses Can Provide Emotional Support:

Whenever people find out they’ll need to spend the night in a hospital, they become stressed out. This stress & worry can hinder the treatment process. In such times, nurses can play a role in making things look less troublesome.

They can deal with both the physical & mental distress of patients through emotional support. Let’s take a look at the best ways nurses can provide emotional support to their patients. 

1. Give them company. 

A simple act of giving patients some much-needed company and social interaction is one of the best methods of providing emotional support. Patients feel lonely and worried when they are in the hospital. Their loneliness can increase their stress levels. Nurses can ensure this does not happen by interacting with the patients and talking to them.

Nurses can allocate some of their time to talking with patients about how they’re doing and how they feel. This is the emotional support valued by most. 

2. Guidance for treatment.

When you are preparing patients are for treatment, they need medication on assigned times and need to focus on consuming the right foods. This can be a hassle for many patients. Nurses can guide them and support them through this. Guidance from nurses is one of the many forms of emotional support most needed by the patients. 

So, nurses should offer their guidance to prep patients for treatment processes. 

3. Educate them about their health issue. 

Nurses can offer emotional support to patients by educating them about the health issue they are experiencing. This can help patients understand how their problem is not as concerning as they are making it out to be. Nurses should tell the patients how simple procedures can treat their health problems. 

Educating patients is one of the best forms of emotional support. 

4. Help patients adjust to hospital rooms.

Patients have a hard time adjusting to the hospital rooms when they are admitted for treatment. Nurses can provide emotional support by tidying up patients’ rooms and making them look and feel comfortable. When patients are able to adjust to the hospital rooms, they feel less worried.

Nurses should focus on making the stay of patients comfortable. This can make patients feel emotionally stable during their treatment. 

5. Talk to the patient’s family. 

The families of patients can feel anxious and troubled during hospital stays. This consequently makes the patients feel even more worried. Nurses can sit with the families of patients and let them know everything will be alright. This minor act can make both the family and the patient feel comfortable in all they are going through. 

Nurses can guide the families on how they should take care of themselves and the patient to ensure good outcomes from the treatment. 

Emotional Support by Nurses is Essential:

Stays in hospitals are always very stressful and troublesome for everyone. Patients and their families constantly fear what will happen next, and this fear can lead to psychological issues. Nurses need to work on getting rid of such fears and worries. 

Providing emotional support is something that all nurses should focus on. This is because physical treatments alone won’t help patients get through the tough times. Successful nurses are aware of how important their emotional support is for patients. Hence, anyone aspiring to become a great nurse should always give this area of expertise importance.