Understanding emotional intelligence and its relationship to clinical reasoning in senior nursing students: A mixed methods study

The complex healthcare environment requires nursing students to be prepared to effectively reason in emotionally charged situations. Clinical reasoning is a complex cognitive process that involves many elements, with little attention given to the role of emotions in this process. The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the EI of senior Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students and its relationship to clinical reasoning to gain a better understanding of how emotions are used in clinical learning experiences. This study utilized a convergent parallel mixed methods design. Quantitative findings indicated a positive relationship between Strategic EI and the clinical reasoning scale of inference (rs = 0.489, p = .044). A positive relationship was also found between the EI branch of Understanding Emotions and overall clinical reasoning (rs = 0.559, p = .024) and the clinical reasoning scale of induction (rs = 0.530, p = .035). The three categories that resulted from the qualitative findings: (1) Sadness for…, (2) Shifting Emotions, and (3) Presence converged with quantitative findings. EI is an important construct when it comes to reasoning and providing care during clinical experiences. Fostering the development of EI may be one way nurse educators can better prepare nurses for safe practice. •Aspects of emotional intelligence are positively correlated with components of clinical reasoning in nursing students.•A major emotion experienced by nursing students during clinical learning experiences is sadness.•Emotions of nursing students shift throughout clinical experiences, guiding their patient care.•Senior nursing students use their emotions to create presence with patients.