Longitudinal Study of Emotional Intelligence,Well-being,and Burnout of Surgical and Medical Residents

Abstract

Introduction

Emotional intelligence (EI) as a concept is becoming increasingly relevant in the healthcare industry. In order to examine the relationship between EI, burnout, and wellness, we administered these measures quarterly in resident physicians and analyzed the variables in each subset to gain insights and understanding of their relationship.

Methods

In 2017 and 2018, all residents entering the training programs in year one (PGY-1) were administered The Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire – Short Form (TEIQue-SF), The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and The Physician Wellness Inventory (PWI). The questionnaires were completed quarterly. Statistical analysis included ANOVA and ANCOVA.

Results

The overall combined PGY-1 resident year (n = 80) had an EI global trait mean score of 5.47 (SD: 0.59) at the beginning of their first year. The domains of burnout and physician wellness were examined across four different time points during the resident’s first year. Domain scores changed significantly over the four time points during the first year. There was a relative 46% increase in exhaustion (P < .001), 48% increase in depersonalization (P < .001), and an 11% decrease in personal achievement (P < .001). Physician wellness domains also changed significantly between time 1 and the end of the year (time 4). There was a relative 12% decrease in career purpose (P < .001), a 30% increase in distress (P < .001), and 6% decrease in cognitive flexibility (P < .001). Each burnout domain and physician wellness domain were highly correlated with emotional quotient (EQ). Emotional quotient was independently assessed with each domain at baseline and with changes overtime. The lowest EQ group reported their distress increased significantly over time (P = .003) and a decline in career purpose (P < .001) and cognitive flexibility (P = .04). The response rate was 100%.

Conclusion

Emotional intelligence is associated with well-being and burnout in individual residents; therefore, it is important to identify those who require increased support during residency in order to succeed.

Keywords

emotional intelligence burnout physician well-being

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Cooper

Tauber

. Viewpoint: New physicians for a new century. Acad Med. 2005;80(12):1086-1088. doi:10.1097/00001888-200512000-00003

Eckleberry-Hunt

Kirkpatrick

Hunt

. Physician burnout and wellness. In: Brower

Riba

. (eds) Physician Mental Health and Well-Being. Integrating Psychiatry and Primary Care. Cham: Springer; 2017: 3-32. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-55583-6_1

Mayer

Salovey

Caruso

. Target articles: Emotional intelligence: Theory, findings, and implications. Psychol Inq. 2004;15(3):197-215. doi: 10.1207/s15327965pli1503_02

Stoller

Taylor

Farver

. Emotional intelligence competencies provide a developmental curriculum for medical training. Med Teach. 2013;35(3):243-247. doi:10.3109/0142159X.2012.737964

Shanafelt

Balch

Bechamps

, et al. Burnout and medical errors among American surgeons. Ann Surg. 2010;251(6):1995-1000. doi:10.1097/sla.0b013e3181bfdab3

Weng

Hung

Liu

, et al. Associations between emotional intelligence and doctor burnout, job satisfaction and patient satisfaction. Med Educ. 2011;45(8):835-842. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.03985.x

Maslach

Jackson

Leiter

, et al. Maslach Burnout Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting psychologists press; 1986. (Vol. 21, pp. 3463-3464).

Shanafelt

Boone

Tan

, et al. Burnout and satisfaction with work-life balance among US physicians relative to the general US population. Arch Intern Med. 2012;172(18):1377-1385. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2012.3199

Doolittle

Windish

. Correlation of burnout syndrome with specific coping strategies, behaviors, and spiritual attitudes among interns at Yale University, New Haven, USA. J Educ Eval Health Prof. 2015;12:41. doi:10.3352/jeehp.2015.12.41

, et al. Burnout during residency training: A literature review. J Grad Med Educ. 2009;1(2):236-242. doi:10.4300/JGME-D-09-00054.1

, et al. Burnout and career satisfaction among American surgeons. Ann Surg. 2009;250(3):463-471. doi:10.1097/SLA.0b013e3181ac4dfd

. Physician wellness: A missing quality indicator. Lancet. 2009;374(9702):1714-1721. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61424-0

. Burnout comparison among residents in different medical specialties. Acad Psychiatr. 2004;28(3):240-242. doi:10.1176/appi.ap.28.3.240

. Suicidal thoughts among medical residents with burnout. Arch Suicide Res. 2008;12(4):344-346. doi:10.1080/13811110802325349

Association of burnout with emotional intelligence and personality in surgical residents: can we predict who is most at risk?

J Surg Educ. 2017;74(6):22-30. doi:10.1016/j.jsurg.2017.11.001

. The relation between emotional intelligence and subjective well-being: A meta-analytic investigation. J Posit Psychol. 2016;11(3),276-285. doi:10.1080/17439760.2015.1058968

. Emotional intelligence as a predictor of resident well-being. J Am Coll Surg. 2016;223(2):352-358. doi:10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2016.04.044

18.

Petrides

Furnham

, 2009. Trait emotional intelligence questionnaire (TEIQue). URL:http://www.eiconsortium.org/measures/teique.html [accessed on 1st October 2011].

19.

Eckleberry-Hunt

Kirkpatrick

Taku

Hunt

. Self-report study of predictors of physician wellness, burnout, and quality of patient care. South Med J. 2017;110(4):244-248. doi:10.14423/SMJ.0000000000000629

20.

Weng

. Does the physician’s emotional intelligence matter? Impacts of the physician’s emotional intelligence on the trust, patient-physician relationship, and satisfaction. Health Care Manag Rev. 2008;33(4):280-288. doi:10.1097/01.HCM.0000318765.52148.b3

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.01 MB

0.04 MB