Implementing Emotional Intelligence to Enhance Leadership Abilities in a Skilled Nursing Home

To meet dynamic changes in healthcare, effective leadership is necessary. A major problem with effective leadership is the lack of emotional intelligence (EI). The purpose of this integrative review is to identify strategies that enhance skilled nursing home leadership abilities using EI. The Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory was used, supported by Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS)Theory. LMX theory explains that leaders-members relationships affect an organization while CAS theory describes healthcare industry as ever-changing. The review question (RQ) that guided this integrative review is: what best EI strategies can be implemented to enhance leadership abilities in a skilled nursing home? Twenty-six articles selected for quality appraisal using Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice Model (JHNEBP). The result of this integrative review identified two themes, quality relationships between leaders and their followers and dynamic interactions, and eight subthemes including empathy, trust and respect, communication, feedback, adaptive leadership, mindfulness practices and collaborative team-based trainings. The integrative review confirms that implementing EI is a powerful strategy for enhancing leadership capacity in a skilled nursing home. EI is integral to social change, especially within the framework of social determinants of health, promoting emotionally safe and responsive workplaces, and promoting emotionally intelligent leadership. EI supports mental well-being, job satisfaction, and professional empowerment. These are key social determinants that influence the quality of healthcare delivery.