Emotional Intelligence of Pakistani doctors and its relationship with patient doctor relationship

Abstract

Introduction: Evaluation of the impact of the emotional intelligence (EI) of doctors on patient satisfaction could help in identifying areas of deficiencies in a particular organization. EI plays a pivotal role in successful medical practice. However, it is studied very little in the Pakistani hospital environments for doctors as well as nursing staff. There is still a lack of understanding about the impact of EI on the working of our health care system.
Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the emotional intelligence of resident doctors and its correlation with the satisfaction level of patients.
Methods: This was a correlational study conducted at Nawaz Sharif Medical College (NSMC), Gujrat for 6 months from March-August 2019. Sixty postgraduate residents took part in it. Convenient sampling was done, and prior permission was taken from the ethical review board of NSMC. Anonymous Wong and Law The emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS) questionnaire was filled voluntarily by residents (self-rating) and by the sister in charge (feedback). A patient feedback form was filled by the patients about the attending doctor to measure patient satisfaction level. Correlation between the EI of doctors and patient satisfaction level was assessed. SPSS version 20 was used for data analysis. Correlation between EI and patient satisfaction level was calculated with the application of paired sample t-test.
Results: The EI level of doctors rated by the Nurse in charge’s feedback was higher as compared to the one rated by self and positively correlated with the patient-doctor relationship. A higher score of EI is seen to be related to a high patient satisfaction level. P-value was <0.01 and R square value was 0.655 for correlation of EI (feedback) with patient satisfaction. The correlation of EI (self-rated) with patient satisfaction showed a P-value of 0.818 and an R square value of 0.001. The correlation between EI (Self-rated) and EI (feedback) was not statistically significant (0.167) as calculated by pair sample t-test.
Conclusion: Higher scores of EI in doctors are positively correlated with patient satisfaction. EI of resident doctors calculated by feedback method is higher as compared to the one assessed by themselves.
 
Keywords: Emotional intelligence, Patient satisfaction, Feedback.