Objective: To examine the association between emotional intelligence and safe technology use among operating room nurses.Methods: This cross-sectional, correlational study included 88 operating room nurses working in a city hospital in Kocaeli. Data were collected using a Descriptive Information Form, the Safe Use of Technology in the Operating Room Scale, and the Rotterdam Emotional Intelligence Scale. Reliability was assessed with Cronbach’s α. Non-parametric tests (Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis), Spearman correlations, and simple linear regression were used (α=0.05).Results: Participants’ mean age was 34.2±7.3 years; 83% were women, and 69.3% held a bachelor’s degree. Scores indicated high levels of safe technology practices (General Practices=4.51±0.59; Surgical Team=4.46±0.55) and emotional intelligence (4.02±0.56). Emotional intelligence correlated positively with both General Practices and Surgical Team Scale sections (p0.01). Regression models were significant, with emotional intelligence explaining 21.2% of the variance in General Practices and 19.9% in Surgical Team scores.Conclusions: Higher emotional intelligence is associated with safer technology use among operating room nurses. Integrating emotional intelligence components into technology-safety training may strengthen the patient-safety culture in technologically intensive surgical settings.
Erbaş et al. (Sat,) studied this question.