Emotional Intelligence Assessment in Undergraduate Medical Students: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: In 21st century, Physicians has to deal with both technical and emotional component associated with doctor patient relationship, technical aspects are taught but emotional aspects are not taught. Aim: To evaluate Emotional Intelligence (EI) in undergraduate medical students of different academic years. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 undergraduate medical students from medical college and tertiary care hospital for two years from January 2018 to February 2020. Demographic information was collected on separate annexure. EI in the study was assessed using emotional quotient self-assessment checklist devised by Sterrett. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire was tested. Emotional quotient self-assessment checklist consists of 30 statements, five each for the six areas. Each question was based on a 5-point Likert scale scoring from 1 to 5 (virtually never=1 to virtually always=5). Results: Out of 200 students, only 16 (8%) could correctly describe about EI. Out of total, 89 (44.5%) felt EI very important, 92 (46%) students felt important while 185 (92.5%) students desired to learn about EI. The EI score in Ist year MBBS was 103.45±13.73 which increased in IInd year MBBS (108.02±12.2) and had statistically significant increase in IIIrd year (111.74±13.86) and IVth year (115.02±14.79). Empathy and motivation were the EI components that decreased from Ist year MBBS to IVth year. Empathy component negatively correlated with social competency component. Conclusion: Emotional Intelligence (EI) has become a crucial element to be inculcated in a competency based curriculum for all academic years. There is a need of EI training in medical curriculum.