<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<sec>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<p>According to the World Federation of Medical Education, critical thinking should be part of the training of medical and paramedical students. Professionals can improve the quality of care of patients after surgery by having or acquiring this skill in health care. Also, Emotional intelligence is introduced as an important and effective factor on the professional performance and mental health of healthcare professionals. Thus, the present study was designed and implemented to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence and critical thinking among operating room nursing students of medical sciences universities in Iran.</p>
</sec>
<sec>
<h3>Methods</h3>
<p>This cross-sectional study was done on 420 operating room students in 10 top medical sciences universities of Iran in 2022. The sampling method in this research was multistage sampling. The data collection instruments included demographic characteristics, Rickett’s critical thinking, and Bradberry-Greaves’ emotional intelligence questionnaires. After receiving the ethics code, data collection was done for 2 months. For data analysis, descriptive and inferential analyses including independent <italic>t-tests</italic>, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation were used. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS 18 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, New York, United States). <italic>P</italic>-value &lt;0.05 was considered significant.</p>
</sec>
<sec>
<h3>Results</h3>
<p>The mean age of the students participating in this study was 23.02 ± 3.70 years, with women constituting 67.4% of them. The results of data analysis indicated that the mean total score of critical thinking and emotional intelligence was 124.10 ± 37.52 and 114.12 ± 43.63, respectively. A direct significant correlation between critical thinking and emotional intelligence (<italic>r</italic> = 0.459, <italic>P</italic>-value &lt;0.001) and a significant relationship between gender and emotional intelligence (<italic>P</italic>-value = 0.028) were found.</p>
</sec>
<sec>
<h3>Conclusions</h3>
<p>Based on the present study results, educational managers in the Ministry of Health are suggested to consider suitable educational programs for improving critical thinking and emotional intelligence to enhance the quality of care provided by students in operating rooms.</p>
</sec>
</abstract>

Objective
According to the World Federation of Medical Education, critical thinking should be part of the training of medical and paramedical students. Professionals can improve the quality of care of patients after surgery by having or acquiring this skill in health care. Also, Emotional intelligence is introduced as an important and effective factor on the professional performance and mental health of healthcare professionals. Thus, the present study was designed and implemented to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence and critical thinking among operating room nursing students of medical sciences universities in Iran.


Methods
This cross-sectional study was done on 420 operating room students in 10 top medical sciences universities of Iran in 2022. The sampling method in this research was multistage sampling. The data collection instruments included demographic characteristics, Rickett’s critical thinking, and Bradberry-Greaves’ emotional intelligence questionnaires. After receiving the ethics code, data collection was done for 2 months. For data analysis, descriptive and inferential analyses including independent t-tests, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation were used. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS 18 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, New York, United States). P-value <0.05 was considered significant.


Results
The mean age of the students participating in this study was 23.02 ± 3.70 years, with women constituting 67.4% of them. The results of data analysis indicated that the mean total score of critical thinking and emotional intelligence was 124.10 ± 37.52 and 114.12 ± 43.63, respectively. A direct significant correlation between critical thinking and emotional intelligence (r = 0.459, P-value <0.001) and a significant relationship between gender and emotional intelligence (P-value = 0.028) were found.


Conclusions
Based on the present study results, educational managers in the Ministry of Health are suggested to consider suitable educational programs for improving critical thinking and emotional intelligence to enhance the quality of care provided by students in operating rooms.

Correlation between critical thinking and emotional intelligence: a national cross-sectional study on operating room nursing students in Iran

Frontiers of Nursing

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Objective
According to the World Federation of Medical Education, critical thinking should be part of the training of medical and paramedical students....

Variables	Mean ± SD
Critical thinking
Innovativeness	45.47 ± 4.48
Cognitive maturity	28.83 ± 3.86
Engagement	50.07 ± 5.76
Total critical thinking	124.37 ± 10.52
Emotional intelligence
Self-awareness	26.40 ± 3.61
Self-management	33.59 ± 4.51
Social awareness	20.96 ± 2.78
Relationship management	33.46 ± 5.41
Total emotional intelligence	114.43 ± 12.63

Variable	Frequency	Percent
Age, years
≤21	151	36.0
21–23	159	37.9
≥24	110	26.2
Gender
Female	283	67.4
Male	137	32.6
Marital status
Single	360	85.7
Married	60	14.3
Residence
Dormitory	190	45.2
With family	230	54.8
Academic year
First	92	21.9
Second	80	19.0
Third	61	14.5
Fourth	187	44.5
Level of education
Bachelor’s	391	93.1
Master’s degree	29	6.9
GPA
10–13	2	0.5
14–16	47	11.2
17–18	230	54.8
19–20	141	33.6

Correlation between critical thinking and emotional intelligence: a national cross-sectional study on operating room nursing students in Iran

Article Category: Original article

Pubblicato online: 26 mar 2024

Pagine: 99 - 104

Ricevuto: 03 apr 2023

Accettato: 31 ago 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fon-2024-0010

Parole chiave
critical thinking, emotional intelligence, operating room students, operating room nurses

© 2024 Armin Fereidouni et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Mean and standard deviation of critical thinking and emotional intelligence and its dimensions.

Frequency distribution of demographic characteristics of study participants.

Correlation between critical thinking and emotional intelligence: a national cross-sectional study on operating room nursing students in Iran

Article Category: Original article

Pubblicato online: 26 mar 2024

Pagine: 99 - 104

Ricevuto: 03 apr 2023

Accettato: 31 ago 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fon-2024-0010

Parole chiavecritical thinking, emotional intelligence, operating room students, operating room nurses

© 2024 Armin Fereidouni et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Mean and standard deviation of critical thinking and emotional intelligence and its dimensions.

Frequency distribution of demographic characteristics of study participants.

Parole chiave
critical thinking, emotional intelligence, operating room students, operating room nurses