Emotional intelligence as a crucial component to medical education

Abstract

Objective: The primary focus of this review was to discover what is already known about Emotional Intelligence (EI) and the role it plays within social relationships, as well as its importance in the fields of health care and health care education. This article analyzes the importance of EI in the field of health care and recommends various ways that this important skill can be built into medical programs.

Methods: Information was gathered using various database searches including EBSCOHOST, Academic Search Premier and ERIC. The search was conducted in English language journals from the last ten years. Descriptors include: Emotional Intelligence, medical students and communication skills, graduate medical education, Emotional Intelligence and graduate medical education, Emotional Intelligence training programs, program evaluation and development.

Results: Results of the study show a direct correlation between medical education and emotional intelligence competencies, which makes the field of medical education an ideal one in which to integrate further EI training.

Conclusions: The definition of EI as an ability-based skill allows for training in specific competencies that can be directly applied to a specialized field. When EI is conceptualized as an ability that can be taught, learned, and changed, it may be used to address the specific aspects of the clinician-patient relationship that are not working well. For this reason, teaching EI should be a priority in the field of medical education in order to better facilitate this relationship in the future.

Keywords: emotional intelligence; graduate education; medical education; professionalism; surgical education.