Nurses' Perceptions of Emotional Intelligence in the Clinical Setting: A Qualitative Systematic Review

Abstract

Emotional intelligence (EI) is recognised as an important skill in nursing practice. However, little is known about how nurses perceive EI. This qualitative systematic review aimed to consolidate available literature to establish nurses’/midwives’ perceptions of EI in the clinical setting. Eight electronic databases were searched, from their inception till 23 November 2020. Reference lists of secondary literature retrieved were perused and hand-searched to ensure inclusion of all relevant papers. This systematic review considered only primary qualitative studies published in the English language. The inclusion criteria were: first-hand experiences, perceptions, perspectives or views of registered nurses/midwives on the topic of EI in the clinical setting. A data extraction form was adapted from The Cochrane Collaboration and pilot tested by two independent reviewers on approximately 20% of the included papers. Quality appraisal was conducted using the CASP Checklist for Qualitative Research Tool. To reduce biasness, around 20% of the included papers were randomly appraised by a second reviewer. No exclusions were made based on quality appraisal results. A third reviewer was consulted when both reviewers were at disagreement. The Sandelowski and Barroso’s two-step approach of meta-summary and meta-synthesis was used. From the included 17 papers, five themes emerged: (1) understanding EI in clinical nursing; (2) nurses’ utilisation of EI; (3) benefits of being an emotionally intelligent nurse; (4) barriers to developing EI; and (5) recommendations to enhance EI. Generally, nurses lacked understanding of EI. Nevertheless, they attempted to use EI pervasively, reaping benefits and showing keen interest to hone EI. Future studies should be geographically-distributed and include nurses from all sectors of the profession, to amass a holistic and comprehensive conceptual understanding of EI specific to nursing. The ultimate goal would be for policymakers and nursing educators to be able to tactically and successfully integrate EI into the nursing profession and curricula.