Assessment of Emotional Intelligence among Physician Residents and Relationship with Educational Performance

Interventions cultivating Emotional Intelligence can certainly help optimizing the academic performance of residents. Furthermore, Emotional intelligence is set to be a valuable indicator and evaluation tool in residency. We aimed to describe the Emotional intelligence of residents and to understand the relationship between academic performance among residents.

This was a cross-sectional study based on a voluntary survey of residents in a university hospital conducted in 2021. Sociodemographic and academic characteristics were collected. EI was measured using the Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS). Perceived sense of professional accomplishment, auto-satisfaction of care provided, and perceived sense of teacher's satisfaction with their performance were collected.

56 residents were included. The mean age was 28.1±2.17, 58.9% were female. Multivariate analysis found self-satisfaction of provided care to be higher in residents with higher self-emotion recognition ability, good regulation of emotions, and better use of self-emotions, Self-emotion recognition was significantly higher in technique-oriented specialties. Finally, higher sleep hours were associated with a higher ability to regulate self-emotions and other's emotions recognition. Both cumulated number of published articles and scientific productivity were significantly associated with 4 dimensions of Emotional Intelligence.

The well-being of residents influences greatly their Emotional Intelligence, as shown by better sleep quality and work satisfaction. Higher EI predisposes residents to thrive academically. Therefore, interventions cultivating Emotional Intelligence can optimize the academic performance of residents.