Nurse Managers’ Emotional Intelligence and Effective Leadership: A Review of the Current Evidence

BACKGROUND: Emotional Intelligence has made a significant contribution to effective leadership, becoming one of the key characteristics of leaders. Objective: The aim of the present study was to review qualitative and quantitative studies concerning Emotional Intelligence of nurse leaders and the evidence-based composition of their results. METHOD: A search was performed in the electronic databases (Pubmed, Scopus and CINAHL) for articles, which were published in the period 2000-2017 in English or Greek. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria, of which 10 were quantitative and one was qualitative. RESULTS: The results suggested that Emotional Intelligence is a useful tool for nurse leaders and contributes decisively to the achievement of effective management in healthcare. CONCLUSION: It is necessary for nurses to improve their social and emotional skills because of the particular nature of the nursing profession, which places the healthy or weak person at its center.