<p>A Response to the Views of Emotional Intelligence Being Higher in Residents Who Took a Gap Year Before Medical School [Letter]</p>

Emotional Intelligence is a form of interpersonal intelligence. There’s evidence that high emotional intelligence (EQ) of a medical student is associated with better coping with the tedious medical training. We evaluated EQ in medical students in their clinical years. This cross-sectional study was conducted in the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS), Accra. In all, 111 students completed the questionnaires. Their average age was 24±1.5 years with marginal male preponderance. There were 37, 31 and 43 students in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd clinical years respectively. For global scores, 16 (14.1%) had good EQ (>120) with a mean total score of 105.49. The mean EQ for males was 104.2±17 an 106.2±12 for females, however this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.319). Mean EQ for 1st, 2nd and 3rd clinical years were 104.4±13, 104.4±20, and 107.1±12. This rise with increasing years was however not significant (p=0.659). EQ showed a weak positive correlation with age (r=0.1) but this was not significant (p=0.29). We report low EQ among students of the UGMS with no significant difference between gender, age and clinical year. EQ should be actively taught as part of the curriculum in UGMS. A larger study involving other medical schools in Ghana isrecommended.

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Does Emotional Intelligence at medical school admission predict future licensing examination performance?

Canadian Medical Education Journal ◽

10.36834/cmej.67884 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Tim J. Wood ◽

Susan Humphrey-Murto ◽

Genevieve Moineau ◽

Melissa Forgie ◽

Derek Puddester ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emotional Intelligence ◽

Medical School ◽

Medical Council ◽

Medical School Admissions ◽

Age And Gender ◽

Future Performance ◽

Potential Measure ◽

And Gender ◽

The University ◽

Admissions Process

Background: Medical school admissions committees are seeking alternatives to traditional academic measures when selecting students; one potential measure being emotional intelligence (EI). If EI is to be used as an admissions criterion, it should predict future performance. The purpose of this study is to determine if EI scores at admissions predicts performance on a medical licensure examination Methods: All medical school applicants to the University of Ottawa in 2006 and 2007 were invited to complete the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT v2.0) after their interview. Students were tracked through medical school into licensure and EI scores were correlated to their scores on the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination (MCCQE) attempted between 2010 and 2014. Results: The correlation between the MSCEIT and the MCCQE Part I was r (200) = .01 p =. 90 The covariates of age and gender accounted for a significant amount of variance in MCCQE Part I scores (R2 = .10, p <.001, n=202) but the addition of the MSCEIT scores was not statistically significant (R2 change = .002, p=.56). The correlation between the MSCEIT and the MCCQE Part II was r(197) = .06, p = .41. The covariates of age and gender accounted for some variance in MCCQE Part II scores (R2 = .05, p = .007, n=199) but the addition of the MSCEIT did not (R2 change = .002 p =.55). Conclusion: The low correlations between EI and licensure scores replicates other studies that have found weak correlations between EI scores and tests administered at admissions and during medical school. These results suggest caution if one were to use EI as part of their admissions process.

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