An Empirical Study on Implications of Emotional Intelligence Traits in Nursing

Nursing is the largest segment of healthcare workforce. Nurses provide care for patients, also render support and counselling to patients and families who are suffering. Emotions play an important role in the relationship and communication between nurses, patients and families. Emotionally intelligent persons perceive themselves as confident, better able to understand, control and manage their emotions. Emotional intelligence is the compilation of four kinds of skills: perceiving and expressing emotions, understanding emotions, using emotions, and managing emotions. Development of theses emotional competency facilitates in well-being and better performance. This paper identifies the level of Emotional Intelligence (EI) experienced by nurses of private and government hospitals. It also studies the effect of demographic variables like age & years of work experience on emotional intelligence. The level of Emotional Intelligence Traits is also assessed.