assessment and comparison of emotional intelligence of nurses in general and intensive care units

objective: professional nursing is recognised for having high working anxiety levels due to continuous interaction with patients, their family and colleagues in a high stress working environment. as a compilation of non cognitive skills and abilities, emotional intelligent could be helpful in controlling stress and increasing the individual’s productivity at work. intensive care units’ employees experience higher stress levels as compared to general units’. this study was conducted with the aim of comparing the emotional intelligence in general and intensive care units.   methods: this descriptive sectional analytic study was conducted on 212 participants of who were randomly selected from the individuals employed in the specialized and general units of selected military hospitals of the city of tehran, in 2011. in order to assess the emotional intelligence, bradberi and greaves (2005) emotional intelligence questionnaire including 28 questions and 5 levels was used. the data obtained from this study was analysed using spss 17. software application’s descriptive analysis and statistical test.   findings: the average emotional intelligence score for nurses 79.4 (±7.3) was calculated. the average relative frequency of emotional intelligence scores were categorized in five levels excellent (10.4%), good (38.2%), required assistance (42.5%), requires work (8.5%) and warning (0.5%). the highest frequency of emotional intelligence among the nurses employed in general units was observed in good level (46.1%). the highest frequency of the level of emotional intelligence among the nurses employed in intensive care units was observed in requires assistance level (47.2%). this difference between general and intensive care units was statistically significant (p = 0.02).