Cross-sectional study of emotional quotient among post graduate students in Rajarajeswari medical college and hospital, Bengaluru

Background: Medical education in India traditionally emphasizes physician’s medical knowledge with less emphasis on interpersonal skills and ability to relate to the patients. Emotional intelligence is desirable among doctors to contribute towards patient centered practice, patient satisfaction as well as effective communication skills. This study was undertaken to assess the emotional quotient of postgraduate medical students and to investigate its relationship with various factors to act as baseline for future work in this area.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among all postgraduate students of Rajarajeswari Medical College and Hospital, Bengaluru over a period of two months. Emotional quotient (EQ) was assessed using a pretested, semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 21.0. All qualitative variables were presented as frequency and percentages.Results: Total respondents in the study were 173. Emotional Quotient was assessed based on four factors; self- awareness, self-management, social awareness and social skills, by plotting the results on a 1(lowest) to 10(high score) scale. Majority of respondents 79.76% (self awareness) and 71.79% (self management) had low scores (below 6). More females (74.73%) obtained low scores as compared to males (67.94%) in self management. In social awareness 61.53% males had low scores compared to 55.78% in females. Self management and social skills were better in postgraduates of surgical fields whereas postgraduates in medical fields had high scores in social awareness.Conclusions: Emotional quotient with its four main components is low among most of the postgraduates. This was more so in self awareness domain.