Welcome to the Caring for Emotionally Vulnerable People online learning course.
This course promotes critical reflection and shares interpersonal skills that can promote understanding during even the briefest encounter.
As a nurse, you will often find yourself caring for vulnerable patients, regardless of your area of speciality. Patients can be fearful, agitated, confused or withdrawn. They may or may not have a mental health diagnosis, learning disability, dementia or autism.
Emotionally vulnerable patients have reported mixed experiences of care. Some feel misunderstood, traumatised, alienated and sometimes stigmatised. While others report that empathetic and respectful treatment and being listened to have positively affected them.
Many patients have experienced both—sometimes in the same treatment episode— and so are aware of the difference.
Free online learning
Contact
Royal College of Nursing, 20 Cavendish Square, Room 207, London, W1G 0RN
Aim of the course
This course aims to help nurses offer empathetic and respectful care to vulnerable patients. In most cases, these skills will come naturally, but they also can be taught and refined in order to build confidence in your practice and delivery of care.
We believe that the topics covered are the cornerstones of effective nursing care and will be useful for all patients encounters.
The themes covered include:
- active listening
- understanding stress and vulnerability
- engaging people in their distress
- person centred communication
- managing our own emotions
- building therapeutic relationships.
On this course you will
- Critically explore how an emotional vulnerable patient may present themselves.
- Apply a ‘stress vulnerability model’ approach to encourage empathy and understanding to emotionally vulnerable patients.
- Explore techniques and approaches that support emotionally vulnerable patients to feel safe while under your care.
- Find extra resources and reading to support further reflection, knowledge and skills.
Course design
The course will be self-directed and reflective, sharing patient journeys and interactions in services. You will be guided through the stages of:
- preparing to care for emotionally vulnerable people
- understanding emotionally vulnerable people’s thoughts and views.
- engaging with emotionally vulnerable people
- working with emotionally vulnerable people.
- reflecting and building your skills with emotionally vulnerable people.
