Introduction: Nurses' commitment to ethics principles, in addition to improve quality of nursing care, is an effective factor to enhance patient satisfaction. Since nurses ethical performance is greatly influenced by the conceptual and moral criteria such as moral intelligence.

Aim:  this study was investigated relationship between moral intelligence in nurses and patients satisfaction of nursing care.

Method: This was a descriptive -correlational study which was performed on 163 nurses and 489 patients who received nursing care in five educational and clinical centers of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences in 2014. Nurses were selected based on stratified proportional random sampling and patients were selected based on simple random sampling from different parts clinical centers, respectively. Using Lennick and Kiel’s moral intelligence (2005) and Biering’s patient satisfaction from nursing care (2006) questionnaires data were collected. Using Cronbach’s alpha, reliability of both questionnaires were measured. The alpha coefficient for moral intelligence was 0.86 and for patient satisfaction was 0.71 respectively. Applying descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Pearson moment correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression analysis) data were analyzed by SPSS₁₆.

Results: Mean score for nurses moral intelligent was (76.68, SD=6.55) which based on the questionnaire’s standard was at a good level.  Mean score for patient satisfaction was (98.27, SD=9.3) which was at a moderate level. There was a significant and positive correlation between nurses' moral intelligent and patients’ satisfaction (r =0.75, p< 0.01). Based on stepwise regression analysis, integrity and responsibility as dimensions of moral intelligence accounted for 71% of variance in patient satisfaction.

Conclusion: It is recommended to nurse managers to provide facilities such as educational workshop to create possibility of enhancing nurses’ moral intelligent because it is would be improve their responsibility to patients.  .