AIM: The aim of the study is to explore available literature on nurses'/midwives' perceptions of emotional intelligence in the clinical setting. BACKGROUND: Emotional intelligence is a crucial skill in nursing practice but little is known about nurses' perceptions of it. EVALUATION: Eight electronic databases (CINAHL, Cochrane, Embase, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, PsycInfo, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science) were searched until November 2020. Quality appraisal was performed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program Checklist. Data analysis was conducted using Sandelowski and Barroso's two-step approach of meta-summary and meta-synthesis. KEY ISSUES: Five themes emerged from the 17 included studies: (1) understanding emotional intelligence in clinical nursing, (2) nurses' utilization of emotional intelligence, (3) benefits of being an emotionally intelligent nurse, (4) barriers to developing emotional intelligence and (5) recommendations to enhance emotional intelligence. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses expressed interest in enhancing their emotional intelligence, and they identified barriers and provided corresponding recommendations to support their endeavours. Future studies should be geographically distributed and include nurses from all sectors of the profession to amass a holistic and comprehensive conceptual understanding of emotional intelligence. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Policy makers and nursing educators should tactically and successfully integrate emotional intelligence training into the nursing profession and curricula.
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