The Relationship Between Surgeon Faculty Emotional Intelligence and Medical Student Evaluations

OBJECTIVE

We sought to measure the emotional intelligence (EI) of surgical faculty and the relationship between faculty EI and medical student (MS) evaluations of faculty.

DESIGN

Faculty completed the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal. Aggregate, anonymous MS evaluations were collected from the Program Director's office. Parametric and nonparametric tests were used for analysis.

SETTING

This study was first performed in a single surgical division at 1 center which informed an expanded study including the entire General Surgery Department at a single academic institution.

PARTICIPANTS

A pilot study was conducted in 1 surgical division which was then expanded to all clinical faculty in the Department of Surgery. All clinical faculty in the Department of Surgery were eligible for enrollment.

RESULTS

Pilot study faculty EI scores were positively correlated with MS evaluations (r = 0.92, p < 0.001). The follow-up study enrolled 41 surgeons with a median age of 48 (inter-quartile range 12). The sample was mostly white (70.7%). Mean EI for the group was 76 (standard deviation ± 7.8). Total faculty EI scores were not significantly correlated with MS evaluations (r = 0.30, p = 0.06).

CONCLUSIONS

MS evaluations of surgeon faculty were not related to EI in the larger sample. However, EI did correlate to MS evaluations in 2 surgical specialties. Further exploration into the utility of EI training in surgical departments should be conducted to determine the true value of such endeavors.

Mobile spaced education for surgery rotation improves National Board of Medical Examiners scores

BACKGROUND

Use of mobile devices for medical education is increasing. The aim of this study was to describe the implementation of a spaced education-based app study program in a third year medical school surgery rotation and examine its effects on National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) examination performance.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Case-based questions were created and distributed to students on a voluntary basis via a mobile app. Questions were repeated in a spaced based manner until mastered. Students completed surveys regarding study habits and app use. NBME examination scores and prior academic measures were obtained. Users of the app were compared to non-users of the app and the previous years' class.

RESULTS

One hundred fifty-two students were offered the app; 121 (80%) used it. App users had a final NBME score of 77.5% compared with 68.8% (P < 0.01) in non-users, although their prior academic achievement was better. Categorizing them by their academic achievement and intensity of app use demonstrated significantly higher scores in regular users of the app as compared with casual and non-users in mid (78 versus 75 versus 71.2%, P < 0.01) and low-achieving students (71.4 versus 70 versus 64.6, P < 0.01), but not high-achieving students (85.3 versus 81.1 versus 79.7, P = 0.09). Stepwise linear regression modeling revealed intensity of app use accounted for 6% of the variance in NBME scores.

CONCLUSIONS

Use of the app-based program was an effective tool associated with higher scores on standardized tests in lower level achieving students.