The relationship between patient satisfaction and emotional intelligence skills of nurses working in surgical clinics

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the patient satisfaction and emotional intelligence skills of nurses working in the surgical clinic. Methods: The study included two groups: a total of 79 nurses working for the surgical clinics of a university hospital in the city of Izmir and a total of 113 inpatients between January 1 and February 20, 2015. The nurses were asked to fill out the Emotional Intelligence Scale and a 12-question self-description form, while the patients were given the Scale of Satisfaction for Nursing Care and an 11-question self-description form. Results: We found a positive and statistically significant relationship between the satisfaction scores and emphatic concern, utilization of emotions, and emotional awareness subheadings of the patients (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Our study results suggest that emotional intelligence should be one of the determinants of the objectives and that it should be recognized among the quality indicators to improve the quality of health care services.