Table 1.

Empirical studies of EI in health care

Author, year, country	Participants	Sample	Measure used	Outcomes	Summary
Wagner et al. 2002; USA	30 doctors; 138 patients	Faculty and residents in an academic family medicine department and their patients	Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory	Patient satisfaction	No significant relationship between global EI and satisfaction. No significant correlation between EI subscales and satisfaction. Significant difference between doctors with 100% satisfied patients and less than 100% satisfied patients on the happiness subscale of Bar-On (t=2.76, P<0.01)
Gerits et al. 2005; Netherlands	380	Nurses working with people with mental retardation and severe behavioural problems.	Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory	Burnout; job turnover	Complex analysis using groups clustered by EI profile and analysing male and female separately. In female nurses generally high EI did not provide a buffer against burnout; however, generally low scores were associated with higher burnout. Low social skills seemed to protect against burnout. In male participants problem solving and stress tolerance EI scores were related to better personal accomplishment (low burnout)
Humpel and Caputi. 2001; Australia	43	Mental health nurses	Mayer et al. Multifactor EI Scale	Work stress	No significant association between EI and stress. Lower EI scores in female nurses with less experience in mental health but not in male participants.
Pau and Croucher. 2003;UK	213	Dental students	Schutte EI Scale	Perceived stress	Higher EI was associated with lower perceived stress. However only the sub scale of optimism/mood regulation predicted perceived stress.
Wagner et al. 2001; USA	Not stated	Medical students	Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory	Not stated	On-going work

EI, emotional intelligence