Background: Emotional Intelligence (EI) is considered as an important characteristic of nurses that can affect the quality of their work including clinical decision-making, critical thinking, evidence and knowledge use in practice. Therefore, the professional nurse should  have the ability to understand the views and needs of a wide variety of people to be motivated and empowered them Aim: to investigate the effect of emotional intelligence educational program for first line managers on the nurses' motivation and empowerment at Minia University Hospital. Setting: The study was carried out at Minia University Hospital. Subject: A convenience sample of first-line nurse managers' (no. = 25) and staff nurses (no. = 150) were included in the study. Tools: four tools were used in this study; emotional intelligence knowledge questionnaire, emotional intelligence self-assessment questionnaire, Motivation Scale and Empowerment Scale. Results: The total knowledge score and levels of EI, and its subscales among first line nurse managers were low before the program implementation; after the program implementation they had high scores with statistically significant differences; also the staff nurse motivation score and empowerment score will be increased after implementing emotional intelligence educational program for first line managers. Conclusions:  statistically significant increase in the knowledge test scores have been found after program implementation and during the different periods of testing. Recommendations: Periodical workshops and program for first line managers to develop their EI competences to be more motivated and empowered for their nurses.