Use of the Emotional Quotient Inventory in Medical Education

Abstract

Objective: As part of a new two-year Essentials Of Clinical Medicine (ECM) course at the Medical College of Georgia, a concerted focus has been placed on communication skills, professionalism, and the awareness of how personal characteristics may influence the care of patients. The practice of medicine has long relied on the physician—patient relationship to maximize the quality of care. The concept of “emotional intelligence,” currently popular in the business world,1 appears to be relevant to that relationship and may provide insight into how physician “emotional skills” may be improved. We decided to use this construct to increase medical students' understanding of their own emotional and interactional skills and as a way for students to gain insight into areas they might need to improve. We expected that facilitating personal insight and providing a means to promote self-growth would improve emotional intelligence and related communication skills over the course of medical training. Description: The ECM course focuses on communication and professionalism during the first semester, using lectures, small groups, communication labs, and interactions with standardized patients. Within the first few weeks, the students and faculty complete the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQi) developed by Bar-On,2 listen to one lecture on emotional intelligence, and subsequently receive personal EQi results, which are distributed at a small-group session. The faculty tutors share personal interpretations and reflections on their own scores and permit the students, if they so choose, to discuss their own scores in a safe setting. The focus on professionalism continues throughout the two-year course with additional small-group sessions and standardized-patient experiences promoting the ideas of self-reflection and growth. Plans are to readminister the EQi in the students' second and third years. Discussion: Most students are selected into medical school based on history of academic and cognitive successes, yet each possesses a unique emotional make-up that reflects personal life experience, coping skills, and core values and beliefs. To be able to practice medicine, the student must have the ability to understand the views and needs of a wide variety of people, remain sensitive and empathic to patient concerns, and be able to keep his or her personal emotional reactions in perspective, handle stress, and promote social responsibility—all concepts that the EQi attempts to measure. We believe the first step is for students to examine and understand their own emotional intelligence, which will, if developed, assist them in the ability to identify and accept the views of their patients. This process has long been expected to occur on its own through the hidden curriculum of medical education and the presence of excellent role models. Use of the EQi will formalize this process, will direct both faculty and students to utilize opportunities to become skilled in the physician—patient interaction, and will provide a means for assessment of intrapersonal change.