Training obstetricians and gynaecologists to be emotionally intelligent

The concept of emotional intelligence (EI), a model that encompasses all of the skills in the patient-doctor relationship, has been applied to medical education in recent years. Doctors in obstetrics and gynaecology (O&G) often deal with emotionally demanding situations for themselves and for their patients, and therefore, EI skills may be vital and should be part of any training curriculum. Using novel methodology, 16 O&G consultants from across the North-West of England were asked to investigate (using a coding manual) randomly allocated modules of the RCOG O&G training curriculum, to look for constructs of EI and these were found both implicitly and explicitly, highlighting the importance of EI to O&G. By focussing on EI training within the curriculum, to improve the patient-doctor relationship, patient satisfaction may be increased and litigation reduced in a specialty that is already highly litigious.