This study looked for associations between measures of emotional intelligence in an intensive clinical experience for nursing students in their final semester of an associate's degree program. The theory of emotional labor was used to make connections between nursing clinical experience and emotional intelligence. Twenty nursing students from a technical college in the Midwest volunteered to complete the Mayer Salovey & Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) prior to completing their clinical experience and at its completion. The sample consisted of 19 females and one male student. Participants' mean age was 31 years; all indicated that they were Caucasian. The key findings were that there was a significant decrease in several scores within the MSCEIT on the post-test, and that there was a positive correlation between older adults and higher levels of emotional intelligence. Stress levels or fatigue could have impacted participants' decreased performance on the MSCEIT. Some recommendations for future research are to replicate this study with larger samples or qualitative analyses, to include measures of stress to explore effects of fatigue on emotional intelligence, to compare clinical experiences with simulations, and to control pre-test and post-test environmental settings for the administration of the MSCEIT. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]