An exploration of the influence of emotional intelligence in registered nurses and student nurses on patient care in clinical practice

Margaret Pickles

The concept of emotional intelligence (EI) is highly relevant in nursing where the abilities of empathy, compassion, self-awareness, situational awareness, and more, play significant roles in the delivery of authentic quality patient care. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the influence of EI in registered nurses and student nurses on patient care in clinical practice. An integrative literature review was undertaken using Whittemore and Knafl s (2005) methodology. The search was conducted in the following databases: the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PubMed and Scopus. Keywords included: emotional intelligence, nurse behaviour, nursing care, patient care, registered nurses, and student nurses. Twelve relevant research publications were identified and quality appraised using Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). Three themes were identified in the data analysis; emotional understanding of self and others; clinical practice performance; self-management. The findings highlighted the impact EI has upon aspects of patient care delivered by registered nurses and student nurses. Increasing EI increases nursing performance. The constructs of self-awareness and empathy, along with nurses age and experience, relate to quality of care and patient satisfaction. The higher the level of nurse/student EI, the higher the level of patient satisfaction and safety. Clinical reasoning, communication ability and decision making were strongly associated with EI, as was self-management. The EI of registered nurses/student nurses is a significant factor in job satisfaction, retention, and patient satisfaction. To provide holistic patient centred care, it behoves nursing schools to specifically include EI training and development within the curriculum. Likewise, healthcare organisations could increase the quality of nursing services by including targeted EI education.