The nursing shortage is a common problem throughout the world. Nurses form the largest proportion of the healthcare system and play a significant role in providing direct patient care. Considering the importance of the role of nurses in the healthcare system, it is important to investigate how nursing shortage effects the quality of patient care, nurses' job satisfaction and their work stress. A study was conducted to investigate the correlation between these at the Polonnaruwa District General Hospital in Sri Lanka with a random sample of nurses) working in the hospital and using a self-administered questionnaire. This study uses an explanatory research design. The statistical analysis confirmed a positive relationship between nurse shortage and workload. It also shows a significant positive relationship between workload and the quality of patient care. Furthermore, a negative relationship was observed between workload and the quality of patient care. In addition, this study calculates the mean effect of emotional intelligence of these factors, and a significant correlation is found between emotional intelligence and workload as well as work stress. There is a firm evidence that in Sri Lanka, nursing shortage influences the workload of the employee, finally affecting the quality of patient care. In addition, the study recognized the capability of nurses to manage their emotions as well as emotions of others, which has increased their tolerance to control psychological stress in performing their duty. This study confirms that nurse's emotional intelligence act as a partial moderating variable for job outcomes of nurses.