Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/896170
Physician Assertiveness and Empathy: STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT? BY TIFFANY PARNELL A JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY MEDICAL EDUCATION STUDY RE VEALS THAT PEDIATRIC AND MEDœPEDS RESIDENTS GENERALLY HAVE HIGHER EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ¦EI§ SCORES THAN MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL POPUL ATION. AS RESIDENTS PROGRESS THROUGH THEIR TRAINING, HOWE VER, SCORES FOR KE Y SUBCATEGORIES, SUCH AS EMPATHY AND ASSERTIVENESS, START TO CHANGE. T E C H N I C A L C O M P E T E N C E I S N ' T t he on ly c h a r a c t er i s t ic of a h i g h ly sk i l led physicia n . EI — descr ibed in the Journal of Contemporary Medical E d u c a t i o n s t ud y a s " t he a bi l it y t o recog nize a nd understa nd emotions i n yourself a nd ot hers, a nd t he abi l- it y to use t h is awa reness to ma na ge your behavior a nd relationships" — is d i rect ly l i n ked to t he qua l it y of t he physicia n-patient relationship. " T here a re s t ud ies out t here t h at s h o w [E I] c o r r e l a t e s w i t h b e t t e r patient follow-up, better rappor t with patient s, bet ter patient satisfaction a nd even bet ter ad herence to physi- cia n recom mendat ion s," says st udy f i r s t a u t h or R a m z a n S h a h i d , M D, FA A P, Loyola Medicine pediatricia n a n d D i v i s i o n D i r e c t o r o f G e n e r a l Pediatrics, Residency Program Director of Pediatrics, and Associate Professor in the Depa r tment of Pediatrics at Loyola Universit y Chicago's Stritch School of Medicine. " There's more recent litera- t ure suggesting t hat physicia ns who have higher EI levels a re at decreased risk for burnout because they 're able to dea l with emotiona lly cha rged situ- ations in a more constructive way." INDICATORS OF FUTURE SUCCESS The goa l of the study was to establish ba seli ne EI scores for pediatr ic a nd med-peds residents a nd identif y a reas where f u r t her development m ay be needed. The resea rch tea m used t he EQ -i 2 .0 s u r vey t o ol t o a d m i n i s t er a n on line, 133-item self-a ssessment to 31 pediatric a nd 16 med-peds resi- dents. Results revea led the residents' 2 6