Emotional intelligence and tertiary care nurses of Bangalore, India – A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Nursing profession requires diverse skills, and emotional intelligence (EI) plays a role in helping them adapt to adverse situations as a part of their work environment. The study objective was to determine the prevalence of EI with its associated factors among the nursing professionals from selected four tertiary care hospitals in Bangalore. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a multicentric, cross-sectional study done among nurses with more than 1 year of work experience, who were randomly selected from tertiary care hospitals in Bangalore. Data was collected, both online and offline, owing to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the Emotional Intelligence Scale was used following obtaining informed consent. Data analysis included mean, associations, and regression. RESULTS: Out of the total 294, the mean age of the study participants was 27 ± 4.92 years. A total of 75 (25.5%) had poor EI. Although there were not any significant association between the specialty and EI subscales, a significant association was found to be present between total years of work experience and all five subscales of EI: self-awareness (P = 0.009), social regulation (P = 0.004), motivation (P = 0.012), social awareness (P = 0.008), and social skills (P = 0.049), respectively. Logistic regression showed a significant finding where nursing staff with more work experience had a higher EI (OR 0.012, 95% CI 1.288–8.075) than those with less work experience. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of poor EI among nursing professionals was 25%, and EI scores increased with increasing work experience, and this was found to be significant. Thereby, EI building workshops/training, as a part of the nursing curriculum, may help improve their quality of care and resilience in demanding work environments.