Performance Transformation Launches "The Emotionally Resilient Nurse" Program

April 10, 2011 - PRLog -- Performance Transformation announced today the launch of their newest experiential learning and professional development program, "The Emotionally Resilient Nurse".  More than three years in development, the program is built upon the research results of more than two dozen peer-reviewed, published studies on the impact of emotional intelligence, empathy, and emotional self-care within the health care delivery system.

"During the early days of conducting our Warriors in Transition workshops, the correlations between what we were doing with combat veterans and the potential applications in nursing were profound," said Terry Murray, Managing Partner of Performance Transformation, LLC. (http://performtransform.com).  "The emotional fatigue experienced by veterans and their family members can be quite similar to the empathy fatigue and burnout nurses experience as well."

The Warriors in Transition program is a pro bono initiative designed to help combat veterans and their family members navigate the deployment cycle and transition back to civilian life.  The program, conducted in partnership with Quantum Leap Farm, Odessa, FL (http://www.quantumleapfarm.org) was formally commended by General David Petraeus, Commander, U.S. Central Command, in 2010.

"Once we realized the similarities between these two populations we knew in our gut that our approach could benefit hospitals, patients, patients' families, and clinicians alike.  As we began a review of the scientific literature our assumptions proved correct," adds Terry.  "It turns out the level of emotional intelligence within a health care organization has a dramatic, documented effect on positive patient outcomes, perceived quality of care, the risk of medical errors, the occurrence of adverse events, and the cost of care at discharge.  Our research also indicated nurses with higher self-awareness, self management, social awareness, and relationship management skills experience far less burnout and turnover.  The benefits of cultivating emotional intelligence skills in nurses, both financially and clinically, warrants close examination by hospital leadership."

The program employs Performance Transformation's proprietary Accretive Coaching Process™, which integrates the competencies from emotional intelligence with the constructs of Applied Behavioral Economics and concepts from research in performance psychology and neurophysiology.  The experiential learning aspects of the program are conducted using ground-based exercises with horses.

"As prey animals, horses are highly sensitive to their environment, living on the edge of fear response.  Horses naturally attune themselves with the emotions of other animals in their environment as part of their early warning system," explains Mr. Murray.  "They use emotions as information to guide their behavior, discerning what is really happening just beneath the surface.  Because of this, horses are exception mirrors of human emotion.  It turns out how we connect, communicate, motivate, and cooperate with horses in the round pen exercises reflects how we do the exact same things with the people in our personal and professional lives.  The metaphors that emerge through the experiential learning exercises offer powerful, lasting learning opportunities for our participants."

The program is customized to the particular needs of each hospital.  Nurses that attend the program will be introduced to a set of easy-to-use tools they can bring with them onto the floor.  The tools help nurses discern between their own emotions and the emotions of others (contagion), teach self-care techniques, and model the expression of empathy through healthy, professional boundaries.  Verbal and non-verbal communication is explored, helping nurses connect, engage, and motivate their patients to stay on their course of care.

"The need for this type of program became apparent to me while I was working on a strategic consulting project for a major teaching hospital system evaluating technology in the operating room.  While discussing the wave of new technology that was flooding the hospital, the nurses consistently expressed concerns that all this new monitoring and information technology was taking their time and attention away from actually caring for the patient, compounding nurse staffing shortages."

Terry adds, "Health care is perhaps the most human industry we have in this country, yet we're attempting to reign in costs through applying technology while ignoring the most critical factor in the delivery system; the empathy and authentic care of nurses.  It turns out the technology may have more of a disconnecting effect on the quality of patient care and resulting costs to the delivery system.  Applying technology without taking into account the human element will only take us so far."

For more information, please visit http://nurse-eq.com.  Terry's blog, "The Transformational Entrepreneur" can be seen at http://yourbizstartup.com.

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Performance Transformation, LLC is a professional coaching and strategic development company dedicated to delivering breakthrough results in a mindful, safe, and respectful manner. Terry Murray's newest book, "The Transformational Entrepreneur - Engaging The Mind, Heart, & Spirit For Breakthrough Business Success" is now available at Amazon.