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Abstract Introduction Intensive care unit (ICUs) staff are often going through conflicting emotions such as hope, decisiveness, uncertainty, compassion and professionalism. To navigate this plethora of feelings and prevent burn out syndrome, they need to enchace their emotional intelligence (EI). Aims To examine the relationship between EI and burnout among critical care workers. Methods This is a cross-sectional study conducted among ICU over a two-month period. Two questionnaires were considered, The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Schutte Self Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT). Results Our study included 103 health care workers. The mean age was 36.6 ± 7.7 years with a sex ratio of 1.6. The majority of the participants were nurses (61.3%) with a professional seniority of 8.6 ± 7.2 years. The mean EI score was 111.1 ± 16.7. A high level of EI was reported in 9.7% of participants. The mean scores for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment were 26.9 ± 6.1, 15.15 ± 4.5 and 26 ± 5.4 respectively. A high score was noted for emotional exhaustion in 38.8% of cases and for depersonalization in 70.9%. A low score was reported in 56.1% for personal accomplishment. A significant association was reported between EI and depersonalization (p=0.03; OR=0.6 CI95% 0.5-0.7) and personal accomplishment (p10-3; OR=1.4 CI95% 0.95-2.14). Discussion EI may reduce the risk of burnout in ICU workers. Conclusion EI enhancement should be considered as a preventive measure.
Ghenim et al. (Mon,) studied this question.