Emotional intelligence of intensive care nurses in a tertiary hospital

Emotional intelligence is defined as "the ability to perceive, assimilate, understand and regulate one's own emotions and those of others, promoting emotional and intellectual growth." The published evidence on the emotional intelligence of nursing staff in charge of a critical area patient in a tertiary hospital is scarce.

To analyse the emotional intelligence of nursing staff in the critical patient area.

A descriptive, cross-sectional, single-centre study carried out in nursing staff of the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) of a tertiary hospital in Catalonia (September 2016). Variables studied: age, gender, work experience in ICU (years worked), and median score (range) of the dimensions of the Meta Mood Trait Scale (TMMS-24) with three dimensions: 1) Emotional attention (I am able to feel and express my feelings adequately); 2) Clarity of feelings (I understand my emotional states well); 3) Emotional repair (I am able to regulate emotional states correctly). A descriptive analysis was undertaken.

All active nursing staff (n = 103) were asked to participate in the study: 92 (89%) accepted and completed the questionnaire (75 (82%) women, 17 (18%) men); 51 (55%) were aged between 21 to 30 years-old, and had more than 6 years of working experience in ICU. The median scores (range) of the different dimensions of the TMMS-24 questionnaire by gender (women/men) were respectively: 1) Emotional attention: 24 (12-37) [Adequate: 25 to 35]; 23 (18-31) [Adequate: 22 to 32]; 2) Clarity of feelings: 29 (15-40) [Adequate: 24-34]; 27 (18-34) [Adequate: 26-35]; 3) Emotional repair: 28 (13-40) [Adequate: 24-34]; 29 (18-39) [Adequate: 24-35].

The emotional intelligence of the nursing staff was adequate in the dimensions of clarity of feelings and emotional repair. However, it was not adequate in the dimension of emotional attention, therefore it is an area to improve.