# Nurse-Physician Relations and Emotional Intelligence: What a 3,359-Nurse Sabah Survey Shows

> Scienmag reports a cross-sectional BMC Nursing survey of 3,359 nurses in Sabah, Malaysia, that linked collegial nurse-physician relations with higher emotional intelligence. The findings are associations, not causes.

iPMS Practice Desk · 2026-10-10 · https://blog.myipms.app/nurse-physician-relations-and-emotional-intelligence-what-a-3359-nurse-sabah-sur

On October 9, 2026, Scienmag published a report, carried on bioengineer.org, on a BMC Nursing study of how features of the nursing work environment relate to emotional intelligence among registered nurses in Sabah, Malaysia [1]. The team, led by Norkiah Arsat of Universiti Malaysia Sabah, distributed 4,000 questionnaires in public hospitals and health clinics and analyzed 3,359 responses after data screening [1]. The central finding was that collegial nurse-physician relations were positively associated with every emotional intelligence outcome the researchers tested [1].

## What the study measured

The story defines emotional intelligence as the capacity to recognize, understand and regulate emotions, both one's own and those of patients and colleagues [1]. It was measured with the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short Form, which covers facets including emotional skills, social skills, self-control and well-being [1]. The work environment was measured with the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index, which divides the workplace into five dimensions [1].

The analysis used partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), a method that estimates paths between latent constructs, meaning variables inferred from several survey items rather than measured directly [1]. The team also assessed reliability and validity, screened for common method variance, which is distortion that can arise when all data come from one self-report instrument, and examined variance inflation factors for multicollinearity among the five workplace dimensions [1].

## The findings

- Collegial nurse-physician relations were positively associated with emotional skills, social skills and global emotional intelligence, an association the authors describe as modest but consistent [1].
- Nursing foundations for quality care were associated with stronger social skills and higher global emotional intelligence [1].
- Nurse participation in hospital affairs was associated with stronger social skills and higher global emotional intelligence [1].
- Nurse manager ability, leadership and support were associated with stronger emotional skills and higher global emotional intelligence [1].
- Staffing and resource adequacy showed negative associations with every emotional intelligence dimension, which supplementary analyses suggested may reflect a statistical suppression effect, in which a third correlated variable masks or reverses a relationship [1].

The authors ask readers to treat the staffing result with caution rather than read it as evidence that better-staffed workplaces produce less emotionally intelligent nurses [1].

## Why it matters for practice leaders

The story ties nurse emotional intelligence to communication quality, professional functioning and psychological well-being, and through these to patient safety and staff retention [1]. The factors with positive associations are largely relational and organizational: how nurses and physicians collaborate, whether nurses have a voice in decisions, the quality orientation of the workplace, and the backing supervisors provide [1]. The story presents responses such as interdisciplinary teamwork training, formal channels for nurse input and manager leadership development as possible levers, not as interventions the study tested [1]. It also suggests that adding resources without attention to relational culture may not deliver the emotional benefits health systems seek [1].

Setting limits how far the results travel. The sample came from public hospitals and clinics in one Malaysian state, a system the story describes as operating under different hierarchies, staffing models and professional norms from Western settings, where most earlier evidence originated [1].

## What to watch next

The authors call for longitudinal and post-pandemic studies to clarify the practical significance and stability of these associations, noting how COVID-19 reshaped nursing workloads and morale [1]. Such work would be needed to show which workplace factors actually change emotional competencies over time [1].

## Limitations

The design is cross-sectional, capturing a single moment, so in the story's words "the direction of causality remains unknown" [1]. Nurses with higher emotional intelligence may perceive their workplaces more favorably, instead of or in addition to favorable workplaces fostering emotional intelligence [1]. The associations were generally modest, and the coverage does not report effect sizes, so their magnitude cannot be judged from this summary [1]. This brief relies on the Scienmag report rather than the full paper (DOI 10.1186/s12912-026-05316-1), and the study was funded by Universiti Malaysia Sabah's New Lecturer Grant [1].

## References

1. bioengineer.org. How Hospital Workplaces Shape Nurses’ Emotional Intelligence in Malaysian Borneo. Accessed October 10, 2026. https://bioengineer.org/how-hospital-workplaces-shape-nurses-emotional-intelligence-in-malaysian-borneo/