Modifiable Factors Influencing Emotional Intelligence Among Medical Interns

AimsEmotional intelligence is crucial for medical professionals. Medical interns are expected to have a high degree of emotional intelligence to face their professional career challenges. Emotional intelligence, often measured as an emotional quotient (EQ), is the capacity to recognize and regulate emotion in oneself. It enables one to monitor own feelings and emotions and others; and guide decisions and actions, and is crucial to ensure a successful work-related outcome or good performance. A higher EQ enhances physician and patient well-being, increases patient safety and augments healthcare teamwork. However, studies about EQ among medical interns are lacking. Therefore, this study intended to determine the level of EQ among medical interns in Malaysia and its associated factors.MethodsThis nationwide cross-sectional study recruited new medical interns reporting to 17 randomly selected Malaysian hospitals accredited for medical intern training from January to April 2020. They were invited to answer an online questionnaire incorporating USMEQ-i to measure EQ, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10 items (CD-RISC-10) for resilience, Brief-Cope to assess coping styles, PHPQ to assess internship preparedness, DUREL for religiosity, and questions related to sociodemographic and undergraduate training.ResultsA total of 524 from 619 medical interns responded. Mean (SD) EQ score was 3.08(0.58). Significant factors positively associated with EQ include resilience score (adjusted b = 0.65, 95% CI 0.58, 0.72, p