Emotional Intelligence in Nurses and Emerging Trends: An Integrative Literature Review

Abstract

Aim: Determine the status of nursing literature regarding Emotional Intelligence. Background: Nurses work in emotionally charged environments, serving as frontline healthcare workers. Emotional Intelligence, a construct that emphasizes the evaluation and use of emotions, may be a valuable tool in the field of nursing. Method: A systematic literature review of the research on Emotional Intelligence, published between 2010 and 2017, in the nursing field was conducted. Results: 34 manuscripts were identified. A wide range of instruments (13) were used across the studies. The majority were cross-sectional descriptive studies (22), followed by longitudinal studies (3), experimental designs (3) and literature reviews/expert opinions (6). Four domains related to Emotional Intelligence were identified, namely, burnout, nursing leadership, workplace environment and quality of care. Most studies showed a positive effect of Emotional Intelligence on the nursing profession by protecting against burnout while improving leadership, workplace environment and quality of care. Conclusion: Emotional Intelligence positively affects the nursing profession by militating against four domains of the nursing field. A standardized approach to evaluating it in the nursing field is needed as are rigorous longitudinal and experimental designs to further delineate the benefits. Emotional Intelligence should become incorporated into the education of nurses and nurse leaders.

Determinants and Manifestations of Nurse Managers Emotional Intelligence in Ghana; A qualitative enquiry

“…Additionally, (12) indicated that emotionally intelligent nurse managers are effective in managing conflict in the workplace whilst (24), revealed that interpersonal awareness of nurse managers ensures effective nursing leadership by recognising staff strengths and capabilities which are ways of determining how emotions manifest among nursing managers, and these related well with the reports of this present study. Moreover (25), found that nurse managers manifest emotions by demonstrating their ability to handle conflict-related challenges in the working environment, making them good managers at detecting the emotions of team members and as such able to motivate them to achieve organisational objective and findings correlated well with present study report.…”

The levels of Emotional Intelligence and its influence on Leadership Styles among Nurse Managers’ in Ghana

“…This indicates that irrespective of a nurse manager's emotional intelligence, their leadership skills is very paramount to attaining the set objectives of an organization (22). The outcome of a cross-sectional study conducted in Spain by (23) found that emotionally intelligent nurse managers facilitate the easy completion of tasks whilst considering their leadership styles. The study further denoted that, nurse managers demonstrated a significant correlation of their emotional intelligence to their leadership styles, therefore being effective in service delivery, hence outcome relating very well with present findings.…”