Focus on emotional intelligence in medical education: From problem awareness to system-based solutions

Physicians’ Emotional Intelligence: Improving Performance While Reducing Burnout

“…Even though EQ has been favorably associated with wellness, decreasing burnout, better physician-patient relationships and better patient outcomes, 12,25 there has not been any significant, unified or standardized movement towards integration into the medical school and residency curricula. 24,25,29 While recognizing that there are still gaps in knowledge and paucity of scientific evidence, 29 we still believe allocating more effort and resources to research, development and implementation of EQ training programs has the potential to enrich the understanding of how to educate effective, well-rounded and resilient physicians.…”

“…10,15,22,23 In the same context, there is consistent evidence that demonstrates physicians with high emotional intelligence (EQ) and leadership skills can more easily reconcile the different challenges that contribute to burnout. 24…”

“…Emotional intelligence-"the ability to perceive emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and regulate emotions to promote personal growth" 14consists of 5 categories: self-awareness, social awareness, motivation, empathy and self-regulation. 13,24,25 In general, leadership and EQ are intimately connected, and it is described that the higher the level of emotional intelligence, the greater the leader development. Leaders with EQ are considered more effective because of their ability to self-manage, listen, understand, build relationships, communicate and develop others.…”

The lived experience of medical training and emotional intelligence

“…EI as a critical leadership skill for physicians is gaining broad support in health care and across the continuum of medical education. 6,11,28,30 Although EI is widely regarded as pertinent to the training of physicians, 18,30,34,35 barriers to implementation exist. Such barriers include, but are not limited to, (a) time, (b) funding, (c) assessment, and (d) broad awareness of the importance of EI for physicians.…”

“…Such barriers include, but are not limited to, (a) time, (b) funding, (c) assessment, and (d) broad awareness of the importance of EI for physicians. 34,35 For example, parsing out time within an already busy schedule for a resident physician to be formally trained on EI may be difficult. Additionally, locating senior physicians with the time and expertise may not be feasible and may require outsourcing.…”