Emotional Intelligence among Nursing students - An Integrated Review

Abstract

Background: Emotional intelligence of nursing students can be enhanced and empowered for social and academic adjustments. Purposes: This article explores the published evidence on the level of Emotional Intelligence among the Nursing students and the effect of it on the quality of nursing education and other clinical outcomes. Methodology: A review of the nursing literature was conducted through an initial search of the computerized databases of CINAHL, Pub Med, Google Scholar and Medline with full text. The initial search identified 1500 papers. The selected search criteria included English language articles written between 2014 and 2016. Fifteen studies (quantitative) were included for the review. Findings:The major findings reveal that emotional intelligence has a positive effect on the coping mechanisms, conflict management styles, performance and other factors. The key issues recognized include that the EI skills are rarely promoted in nursing curricula and a positive and nonjudgmental learning environment is vital for students to effectively learn EI concepts. Conclusion: Therefore there is high possibility for further research in this area as well as the need for careful direction regarding the inclusion of educational strategies in to Nursing education, in order to enhance EI in health care environment.