The emotional intelligence of registered nurses commencing critical care nursing

Emotional intelligence and coping strategies among intensive care unit nurses

BACKGROUND

Stress is an integral part of daily work for nurses, especially those who work in intensive care units (ICUs). However, chronic stress can affect nurses' mental and physical well-being, increasing their risk of burnout and decreasing the quality of care. A higher emotional intelligence (EI) level may be correlated with greater use of effective coping strategies, leading to a reduction of the adverse effects of stress.

AIM

This study aimed to examine the relationship between EI and coping strategies among adult ICU nurses in Poland.

STUDY DESIGN

A cross-sectional survey design was used. Current adult ICU nurses in nine Polish hospitals were invited to participate. The survey instruments used were: the Polish version of the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test, the Inventory to Measure Coping Strategies with Stress (Brief-COPE), and a self-constructed questionnaire.

RESULTS

114/543 (21%) nurses completed the survey. ICU nurses showed an average level of EI (70.2%). The main stress coping strategies were active coping and planning, the rarest being substance use, behavioural disengagement, and denial. For nurses with a higher EI level, the most frequently used strategies included positive reframing (R = 0.43; p < .001), active coping (R = 0.38; p < .001), planning (R = 0.37; p < .001) and religion (R = 0.25; p = .006). Nurses were less likely to utilize strategies of behavioural disengagement (R = -0.32; p = .001) and self-blame (R = -0.40; p < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

EI may have an impact on coping strategies, as a higher EI level was correlated with the greater use of effective coping strategies in ICU nurses.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Training in coping with stress and increasing EI may have a positive impact on reducing the risk of burnout in nurses and thus improving the quality of care delivered.

Profiling health professionals' personality traits, behaviour styles and emotional intelligence: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

Non-cognitive traits have been theorised to predict characteristics, career choice and outcomes of health professionals and could represent a homogenous group. This study aims to profile and compare personality traits, behaviour styles and emotional intelligence of health practitioners across a variety of professions.

METHODS

Empirical literature was systematically reviewed. A two-concept search strategy was applied to four databases (CINAHL, PubMed, Embase, ProQuest). Title/abstract and full text articles were screened against inclusion and exclusion criteria. Methodological quality was assessed using Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Data was synthesised narratively and meta-aggregated where feasible.

RESULTS

Three hundred twenty-one studies representing 153 assessment tools of personality (n = 83 studies), behaviour (n = 8), and emotional intelligence (n = 62) were included. Most studies (n = 171) explored personality (medicine, nursing, nursing assistants, dentistry, allied health, paramedics), revealing variation in traits across professions. Behaviour styles were least measured with only ten studies exploring these across four health professions (nursing, medicine, occupational therapy, psychology). Emotional intelligence (n = 146 studies) varied amongst professions (medicine, nursing, dentistry, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, radiology) with all exhibiting average to above-average scores.

CONCLUSION

Personality traits, behaviour styles and emotional intelligence are all key characteristics of health professionals reported in the literature. There is both heterogeneity and homogeneity within and between professional groups. The characterisation and understanding of these non-cognitive traits will aid health professionals to understand their own non-cognitive features and how these might be useful in predicting performance with potential to adapt these to enhance success within their chosen profession.

Have we been able to improve the conscientious intelligence levels of nursing students sufficiently?

PURPOSE

This study was aimed at comparing the conscientious intelligence levels of nursing students and determining the factors affecting their conscientious intelligence.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Two hundred and forty nursing students were involved in the study.

FINDINGS

There were no statistically significant differences between the first and fourth-year students in terms of the mean scores they obtained from the compassion, responsibility toward the creator, conscious awareness, and social sensitivity sub-dimensions. Of the students, those who chose the profession willingly, those who were women and those who did not perceive nursing as a profession just to earn money obtained higher mean scores in the Conscientious Intelligence Scale.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

The results of the study revealed that Nurse Academics should make more attempts to improve students' conscientious intelligence.

Healthcare leadership effectiveness among managers in Public Health institutions of Addis Ababa, Central Ethiopia: a mixed methods study

Background

Leadership is the ability to influence the attitudes, beliefs, and abilities of employees to achieve organisational goals. It is crucial for the successes or failures of organisational performance. Healthcare organizations need effective leadership to manage the health service delivery reforms efficiently and effectively. However, there was no adequate evidence on the current status of the healthcare leaders to make evidence-based decisions. Therefore, this study aims to assess the effectiveness of healthcare leadership and associated factors among managers working at public health institutions in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Methods

Institution-based cross-sectional study triangulated with the qualitative study was employed from 01 April to 01 June 2021. A total sample of 844 healthcare managers were used to assess their leadership effectiveness. Multi-stage sampling followed by a simple random sampling technique was used to select the participants. Binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify the factors associated with healthcare leadership effectiveness. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) and p-value less than 0.05 during multivariable logistic regression were used to declare the factors associated with the outcome variable. We conducted key informant interviews (KIIs) to explore the views of healthcare managers on their leadership practices, mainly on vision creation, developing followership and implementing vision. We also tape-recorded the KIIs and then transcribed word by word and finally translated it into English. We conducted a thematic analysis to supplement the quantitative findings.

Results

In this study, 46.8% (95% CI: 43.4 -50.2) of the participants had effective healthcare leadership practices. Emotional intelligence (AOR = 7.86; 95% CI; 4.56, 13.56), democratic managers (AOR = 4.01, 95% CI; 1.98, 8.14), master or above education (AOR = 5.1; 95% CI; 2.07, 12.61) and work experience (AOR = 3.44, 95% CI; 1.24, 9.55) were positively associated with healthcare effective leadership. The challenges in healthcare leadership were mainly associated with lack of leadership knowledge and skills. In addition, autocratic leaders negatively influenced managers ability to work closely with the staffs and affected employee’s motivation. On the contrary, emotionally intelligent managers were effective on employee handling, providing chance to talk, understanding their feelings and needs.

Conclusion

Healthcare managers had low capacity on vision creation, implementation and developing followership, particularly the ability of vision creation was very low. Lack of leadership knowledge and skills and frequent use of autocratic leadership were the challenges for healthcare leadership effectiveness. This could also negatively influence organisational performances, managers’ ability to work closely with the staffs and reduced employee’s motivation. Therefore, strengthening emotional intelligence and empowering managers will be very helpful to improve leading health cares.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-022-07879-6.

Emotional Intelligence and Perceived Health Related to Expressed Compassion Fatigue: A Study in Health Sector at Regional Level

Background: The work of health professionals often involves physical as well as psychological strain. They constantly deal with traumatic situations of pain and suffering, which destabilize the sense of well-being. Compassion fatigue is a feeling that appears in these cases and is related to other variables such as burnout or emotional drain.

Aims: The principal aim of this project was to deepen the analysis of compassion fatigue and how it could be explained through the relationship with other constructs such as emotional intelligence and perceived health.

Methods: This work followed the STROBE checklist for cross-sectional studies. In this study 1,521 nurses (M_age = 47.32; SD = 8.44) participated. The responses reported by the nurses were analyzed by classifying them as high or low compassion fatigue and the differences of both groups were analyzed for the variables of emotional intelligence, perceived health and quality of professional life.

Results: It was obtained significant differences for all factors except for emotional intelligence factor. A linear regression analysis showed both emotional intelligence and perceived health helped to explain (12%) compassion fatigue.

Conclusion: This study provides light on comprehending the conception of compassion fatigue. It highlights the importance of intervention programs that improve the quality of professional life.

Benchmarking of Emotional Intelligence in radiography students within KwaZulu- Natal, South Africa

INTRODUCTION

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is an important skill within the various health care professions, and a higher level of EI is associated with better patient care, communication, empathy and teamwork. Within the Republic of South Africa, there is limited literature on EI within the health care sector, and specifically within radiography.

METHODS

The Trait EI Questionnaire Short Form (TEIQue-SF) was used to record the EI scores of 247 BHSc Radiography students in all four disciplines over the four years of study at the selected University of Technology (UoT) in Kwazulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa. The TEIQue-SF yields a Global EI score and the four factors of EI.

RESULTS

The study benchmarked the TEI scores of the radiography cohort. The male participants scored significantly higher in Global EI (p = 0.020 and 0.029) and the Self-control factor (p = 0.000) of EI compared to the female participants. The younger participants scored significantly higher in three of the five factors of TEI, namely: Global EI (p = 0.003), Well-being (p = 0.003) and Self-control (p = 0.010), which was an unexpected finding and against the norm. Racially (0.010 and 0.009) and culturally (P = 0.022 and 0.026), the Black participants and the Zulu participants scored significantly higher in the Self-control factor of TEI.

CONCLUSION

This study benchmarked the TEI scores of radiography students within KZN and compared these TEI scores to the demographic variances of the students with interesting results. This study has highlighted the TEI level of the students at a selected UoT, which can be used to ensure that better prepared, well-rounded and employable graduates enter the workplace. This can be achieved by the implementation of the recommendations, which includes the levels of EI to be developed and relevant EI training required. Further research is required within the field of TEI and Radiography in the South African context to strengthen this study's findings.

IMPLICATION FOR PRACTICE

This study has highlighted the EI scores of a cohort of radiography students. The results of this study have made the institution more aware of the students' TEI which will allow the institution to ensure students are better prepared and are employable graduates within their chosen profession by including EI training within the health faculty curriculum.

Emotional Intelligence and Professional Boredom among Nursing Personnel in Greece

Occupational (professional) boredom results in low performance at work. It has been positively associated with high levels of anxiety and depression as well as premature death. However, occupational boredom has not been extensively studied among working nurses. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and occupational boredom in nurses working in both public (52.9%) and private (47.1%) health units in Greece. A cross-sectional study was conducted among a convenience sample of 189 nurses (84.7% females) with an average age of 40 years. Emotional intelligence was evaluated with the use of The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form and Professional boredom was assessed with the use of the Boredom Proneness Scale. The majority of Nurses showed relatively high values of total Emotional Intelligence (EI), and marginally low values of overall Professional Boredom. A statistically significant negative correlation was found between the overall Professional Boredom of Nurses and the Well-being, Self-control, Emotionality and Sociability subscales of EI, as well as total EI (p < 0.001). Multiple linear regression analyses showed that the three dimensions of EI (Well-being, Self-Control and Emotionality) explained 39.0% of the variability of the total Professional Boredom of the working Nurses.

Caring behaviors, moral sensitivity, and emotional intelligence in intensive care nurses: A descriptive study

PURPOSE

To evaluate the relationship of caring behaviors with moral sensitivity, emotional intelligence and descriptive characteristics in intensive care nurses.

METHOD

Descriptive study. The sample of this study consisted of 156 nurses. The data were collected using introductory information form, caring behaviors inventory, moral sensitivity questionnaire, and emotional intelligence scale. The factors affecting caring behavior were determined using stepwise multiple linear regression.

FINDING

It was determined that high education level, working in shifts, as well as appraisal of emotion subscale of emotional intelligence scale and also autonomy, expressing benevolence, and following praxis subscales of moral sensitivity questionnaire were high predictors for caring behaviors.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Descriptive characteristics, moral sensitivity, and emotional intelligence are related to high caring behavior in intensive care nurses.