Emotional Intelligence in Medicine: Self-Management – PediaCast CME 108

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Show Notes

Description

Erica Banta returns to the studio as we consider the second pillar of emotional intelligence: self-management. This skill leads to better patient outcomes, stronger teamwork, and a more fulfilling career in medicine. We hope you can join us!

Instructions to obtain CME/CE (/FD-ED) Credit

1. Read this information page.
2. Listen to the podcast.
3. Complete the post-test at Nationwide Children’s CloudCME.

• CME credit expires 3 years from this episode’s release date.
• You can view your transcript and print a certificate of completion at Cloud CME.
• Need help creating a Cloud CME account? Click Here.
• Still have questions? Contact CMEOffice@nationwidechildrens.org

Topics

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
Self-Management

Presenters

Dr Mike Patrick
PediaCast and PediaCast CME
Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Erica Banta, MBA, LDSS
Director of Strategic Talent Management
University Advancement
Michigan State University

Learning Objectives

At the end of this activity, participants should be able to:

1. Define self-management within the framework of emotional intelligence and explain its significance in medical practice.
2. Identify and describe strategies to enhance self-management skills among healthcare professionals.
3. Analyze scenarios where effective self-management can improve patient care and team dynamics.
4. Develop a personal action plan to implement self-management techniques in daily practice.

Links

Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ
Emotional Intelligence 2.0
Introduction to EQ: Emotional Intelligence in Academic Medicine – PediaCast CME 074
Emotional Intelligence and Medicine: Self Awareness – PediaCast CME 091
A Systematic Review of Physician Leadership and Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence: Use in Medical Education and Practice
Emotional Intelligence for Physician Leaders (Harvard Medical School)

Disclosure Statement

No one in a position to control content has any relationships with commercial interests.

Commercial Support

Nationwide Children’s has not received any commercial support for this activity.

CME/CE Information

In support of improving patient care, Nationwide Children’s Hospital is jointly accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for the healthcare team. (1.0 ANCC contact hours; 1.0 ACPE hours; 1.0 CME hours)

Nationwide Children's Hospital has been authorized by the American Academy of PAs (AAPA) to award AAPA Category 1 CME credit for activities planned in accordance with AAPA CME Criteria. This activity is designated for 1.0 AAPA Category 1 CME credits. Approval is valid for 2 years from the date of the activity. PAs should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation.

As a Jointly Accredited Organization, Nationwide Children's Hospital is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Nationwide Children's Hospital maintains responsibility for this course. Social workers completing this course receive 1.0 continuing education credits.

Continuing Education (CE) credits for psychologists are provided through the co-sponsorship of the American Psychological Association (APA) Office of Continuing Education in Psychology (CEP). The APA CEP Office maintains responsibility for the content of the programs.

Contact Us

CMEOffice@nationwidechildrens.org

 

Episode Transcript

[Dr Mike Patrick]
This episode of PediaCast CME is brought to you by Nationwide Children's Hospital. 

Hello everyone and welcome once again to PediaCast CME. We are a continuing medical education podcast for healthcare providers.

This is Dr. Mike coming to you from the campus of Nationwide Children's Hospital. We're in Columbus, Ohio. It's episode 108.

We're calling this one emotional intelligence and medicine self-management. I want to welcome all of you to the program. So today we are continuing our deep dive into emotional intelligence in medicine with a focus on self-management.

Now we have already explored the foundation of emotional intelligence that was back in episode 74 and the importance of self-awareness that was episode 91. However, recognizing our emotions is just the beginning. How we regulate and respond to our emotions, especially in high-stakes medical environments, can make all the difference for our patients, our colleagues, and our own well-being.

So, in this episode we're going to break down the key components of self-management from handling stress and staying adaptable to maintaining professionalism under pressure. We will also explore practical strategies to strengthen emotional regulation skills which can lead to better patient outcomes, stronger teamwork, and a more fulfilling career in medicine. So, whether you are a seasoned physician or early in your medical journey, self-management is a crucial skill that can enhance both clinical practice and leadership effectiveness.

So, let's dive in and explore how mastering self-management can help us thrive in medicine. Of course, in our usual PediaCast CME fashion, we have a terrific studio guest this week. She has been here all along as we have explored emotional intelligence.

Our guest is once again Erica Banta. She is Director of Strategic Talent Management with University Advancement at Michigan State University. She will be with us shortly.

Before we get to her, I do want to remind you that after listening to this episode, be sure to claim your free Category 1 credit. Really easy to do. Just head over to the show notes for this episode at PediaCastCME.org.

Look for episode 108. Look at the show notes there and you will find a link to the post-test in the show notes. Follow that link to Cloud CME.

Once you're logged in there, if you don't have an account, you can create a free one. Then you're going to click on the Materials tab, take and pass the post-test, and the Category 1 credit is yours. We offer credit to many pediatric professionals, including physicians, of course, but also nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, social workers, and dentists.

And since Nationwide Children's is jointly accredited by all of those professional organizations, it's likely we offer the credits you need to fulfill your state's continuing medical education requirements. Of course, you want to be sure the content of this episode matches your scope of practice, which it really should for everyone. Yes, we think about emotional intelligence.

Complete details, though, are available over at PediaCastCME.org. Also want to remind you, the information presented in our podcast is for general educational purposes only. We do not diagnose medical conditions or formulate treatment plans for specific individuals.

Also, your use of this audio program is subject to the PediaCast CME Terms of Use Agreement, which you can find at PediaCastCME.org. So, let's take a quick break. We'll get Erica Banta settled into the studio, and then we will be back to talk about the self-management pillar of emotional intelligence.

It's coming up right after this. 

Erica Banta is Director of Strategic Talent Management for University Advancement at Michigan State University. She holds an MBA from Franklin University and is a Certified Leadership Development and Succession Strategist, which means she is an expert at helping leaders achieve their full potential as they drive the success of an organization.

She's also a Leadership Practices Inventory Coach and a Berkman Certified Professional, which involves coaching leaders and challenging them to create sustainable strategies aimed at increasing leadership skills. One of those skills, in fact, one that often leads to success is emotional intelligence, also known as EQ. And this is not only important in the business world.

EQ also leads to success and satisfaction in all realms of medicine, including clinical care, teaching, research, and service activities. Ms. Banta joined us for two previous episodes of PediaCast CME. We had an introduction to emotional intelligence.

That was back in Episode 74. And we talked about self-awareness, which is the first pillar of emotional intelligence back in Episode 91. Today, we are considering the second pillar of emotional intelligence, and that would be self-management.

But before we dive into our topic, let's offer a warm welcome back to Erica Banta. Thank you so much for stopping by the studio again.

[Erica Banta]
Glad to be here again. This is obviously one of my favorite topics, and I am ready to dive in.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Great. Well, we are excited that you are here. Why don't we start with just a reminder of what exactly is emotional intelligence, also known as EQ, and how does it compare, then, to the IQ?

[Erica Banta]
Great start. And I think that it's important to understand what emotional intelligence is not. So, EQ is a set of skills that can be molded and improved and changed.

It's your ability to recognize and understand emotions. It's using this awareness to manage yourself and your relationship with others. But it's not IQ, right?

So, IQ isn't kind of what you know, which is some people think that that's what IQ is. But rather, it's your innate ability to learn. And your ability to learn stays relatively the same across your lifespan, right?

So, you know, I've talked about this in a previous episode. Your IQ is sort of the same at age 7 as it is at age 67. It's determined relative to others of your same age group.

But IQ is way different than EQ when we think of enhancing and learning and practicing that skill. EQ is malleable. It can grow with practice over time.

It's unique. And it can change because, again, it's a set of skills.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah. Now, it can change, which, you know, we want to think it can change for the better. We can learn EQ.

We can practice it. Trainees can be exposed to it and start learning to practice it. But it can also decrease as well.

And sometimes as we progress through our medical journey, we may become cynical. We may become burnout. And our EQ can actually drop, right?

[Erica Banta]
It can. It can. And just like any other sort of muscle, to make it strong, we have to use it.

And we have to use it often. And the way we do that is to actually be intentional and practice with other humans. I can read all the books in the world about emotional intelligence, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to be good at practicing those tenets.

I only get better when I use it.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yes, absolutely. Before we move on, I also want to mention there's a couple of really terrific books if you really want to take a deep dive into emotional intelligence. The first one is Emotional Intelligence, Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman.

And that was really kind of the first book about EQ in depth that came out, as I recall. And then Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Gene Greaves and Travis Bradbury. And we'll put links to both of these in the show notes.

I think the Emotional Intelligence 2.0 really was less theoretical and more application. And so, they kind of complement each other. Like, if you want to know the science of EQ versus like, how do I put it into practice?

Then these two books really work well together, I would think. But I think that the next thing is really to talk about those four pillars of emotional intelligence. Remind us what those are.

[Erica Banta]
Yes. So, I like to divide them into personal competence and social competence. And then sort of cross-hatching those into what I see and what I do.

So, if we think about those four pillars, we've previously talked about one of them already, and that's self-awareness. What I see in myself is self-awareness, and that's the ability to recognize my own emotions and how it affects my thoughts and behaviors, how I know my own strengths and opportunities, how I understand my own beliefs, and how I understand my own self-confidence. So, on the flip side of that, then what I do is self-management, the next pillar, which is what we're going to talk about today.

And self-management is the ability to control those impulsive feelings and behaviors, manage those emotions in healthy ways, take initiative, follow through on commitments, and really adapt to changing circumstances. So then if we take those as our two pillars of personal competence, then we think about the two pillars of social competence. And the first of those is social awareness, and that's the ability to understand our emotions, needs, and the concerns of other people, pick up on emotional cues, feel comfortable socially, recognize the power dynamics in a group or an organization.

And so that's what I see when I'm using social awareness. And then finally, the fourth pillar is what do I do with that social competence, and that's relationship management, which is just the ability to develop and maintain good relationships, you know, communicate clearly, inspire and influence others, working well in a team. That's a big, that's a big one.

We'll talk about that today. Managing conflict. And so those are really the four EQ quadrants or pillars that we like to talk about and focus on, and you can read more about those in the books that you were talking about earlier.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
So, we have self-awareness, which we talked about last time, self-management, which we are going to talk about today, and then we also have social awareness and relationship management. So, let's really shine a light on self-management at this point, and why is that crucial for medical professionals?

[Erica Banta]
As a businesswoman, I understand this in a business context, but I also understand this in a medical one as well, because even though I am not an academically trained medical professional, I've certainly been part and privy to that world, right? And so medical professionals, you know, you work in high stress, high stakes environments, emotions can run really high, both for the medical practitioners and the patients and families and colleagues. So effective self-management allows to just stay calm under that pressure, you know, make really sound clinical decisions, communicate with empathy and clarity.

It really helps maintain professionalism even during those really emotionally charged situations.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah, so important. And important enough that there's actually a whole body of literature surrounding the importance of emotional intelligence in medicine. And I'm going to put a couple of those articles in the show notes for folks who might want to dig a little bit deeper.

One is from the Journal of Graduate Medical Education, and it's called A Systematic Review of Physician Leadership and Emotional Intelligence. And another one is from the McGill Journal of Medicine, and this is Emotional Intelligence Use in Medical Education and Practice. And what I really love about this is it not only impacts the relationships that we have with our colleagues and our co-workers and hospital and clinical staff, but it really impacts patient outcomes and not only patient satisfaction, but actual outcomes.

And so there really is a body of literature showing that the more emotional intelligence that we exhibit as physicians, the better our patients do. So why is it that self-management would impact outcomes?

[Erica Banta]
Well, I think that, you know, when clinicians manage their emotions effectively, patients feel heard, they feel respected, and they feel safe, right? They feel safe. And this trust, this building of a relationship of trust between a doctor and their patient, it just, it leads to better adherence to treatment plans, certainly.

There's reduced anxiety. There's just improved overall patient experience. And poor self-management, on the other hand, it can result in miscommunication, rushed or faulty decisions, and decreased patient satisfaction, maybe even harm.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
And, you know, it's one of those things where when we're in a room, hopefully, you're not only having, and this is jumping ahead a little bit, but, you know, we have our own self-awareness, which then we're going to manage. But there's also that social awareness of, is the patient, the family, whether it's a kid or an adult, do they understand what we're saying and what we're trying to get across? And are we taking the time, which does go into self-management, to explain things to them and maybe pick up on those nonverbal cues that maybe they're not quite understanding?

Because then what I have found in my own personal practice is that when patients and families understand, then they are more likely, as you had mentioned, to comply with the treatment, and then that's going to help drive outcomes. But if they don't understand, you know, they may be more likely than to be like, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. And I've had family who saw a different doctor who said this, and now I'm not trusting.

And do I really need to take this medicine? And so, I think that, you know, managing how we come across to families is really important, you know, in terms of patient outcomes and satisfaction and all of those things. So, you know, we not only say it's important, but there is also literature that shows it's important.

So, what kind of strategies as medical professionals can we employ to really make sure we're making the best use of self-management?

[Erica Banta]
Yeah, I'll start with, these are some practical strategies, they're tactical, right? These are things that you can do in the moment, things you can maybe prepare, maybe things that you can do and debrief after an emotionally charged situation, because that's helpful too for the next time. So, you know, mindful awareness.

I've talked about mindfulness before, practicing mindfulness, or even just short breathing exercises can really help regulate immediate stress reaction, immediate emotional reaction. And so, taking those deep breaths, right, and getting some good oxygen flowing can help us think more clearly. Emotional labeling is something I talk about a lot.

Name the emotion that you're experiencing, not just, I'm angry, but is there a better word for it? Or the worst, and I may have talked about this before, but I'm really stressed out. That doesn't really tell me much.

That doesn't really name what you're feeling in a moment. Are you stressed out because of something that's happened in the past? Are you stressed out because time management is an issue right now?

Are you stressed out because you have, you know, multitudes of patients waiting on you and you're short-staffed in your department that day? I mean, there's any number of things. Are you feeling overwhelmed?

So, naming an emotion can create distance from it actually, and it can decrease its intensity. So, I'm a big fan of naming what you feel at any given moment. Pause and response, you know, building a habit of pausing before responding, especially in those really super-charged situations.

Set time boundaries. That can be really hard. We live in a go-go-go, rush-rush-rush, eat-your-sandwich-in-the-car-on-the-way kind of society, right?

We don't often have time to set limits on our time outside of work, inside of work. But if you can, set limits on screen time. Protect your energy and focus.

Set limits on your availability. Take purposeful pauses and breaks. Another strategy, I think, to employ and enhance self-management is doing regular reflection.

So regular reflection exercises using journaling, peer support, peer support networks, even therapy to just process experiences and reduce some of that emotional buildup. Chipping away at some of that buildup and having sort of a clean and a fresh start. And then finally, I'd say another strategy that maybe is the toughest is self-compassion.

Just acknowledging your limitations, right? Offering oneself grace, particularly after difficult cases or even perceived failures, can do wonders for our self-management.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah, really important tips. And I think as we consider those, the more that we do them and practice them, the more natural that it becomes. That it's just, you don't even think about it after a while.

You really take that pause. You recognize when I'm starting to feel emotions. And then you think, where do these come from?

And so again, that self-awareness that, hey, there's something stressful going on here. And then taking a beat and thinking it through and reflecting, which can be difficult in the moment. Like, okay, I can, on my way home driving from my shift, I can reflect and think, you know, what could I have done better in any given situation?

But in that moment, sometimes that can be difficult, right?

[Erica Banta]
It absolutely can. And that's why this is a constant state of practice EQ. It's saying, you know what, I didn't think about, I didn't think about how that felt but let me take a minute to just reflect.

Let me, let me turn off, let me turn off the podcast in the car, not your podcast, other podcasts.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
I want people to be emotionally intelligent. If you have to turn this podcast off, that's fine. Just turn it back on later.

[Erica Banta]
But let me turn off the noise for a minute. And while I'm driving home, just take that opportunity to pause and reflect. How did that feel?

What did I feel when I got this feedback or had this encounter with a colleague or a nurse or a family or a patient? That's really important.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah. Yeah. And that reflection, even though the encounter is over, and especially in, in my world in emergency medicine, we may not see that family again.

It's a little bit different in like primary care where you're still going to be that patient's physician. And so, you'll have a chance maybe to, to practice emotional intelligence a little bit better with the next encounter. But again, we, we learn and grow through all of these encounters and every episode.

And as we reflect, and that can really help us the next time that we're in maybe a similar situation. I want to talk through some examples of where self-management is going to be important in the clinical setting. And let me, let me just throw some examples to you and maybe you can help, you know, help us understand where emotional intelligence comes into play in those particular situations.

So one, I would say often we do deal with patients who maybe come in with preconceived notions of what should happen. So, you know, they, they may be fearful for a particular disease process, and they think lab work needs to be done, or we need to do this or that or the other thing. And then when we get the history and do the physical exam, we may think that, no, we need to go in a different direction.

And so, families can get upset about that because they had expectations that something particular was going to happen, which doesn't line up with what we think we need to do or what is necessary. And that can really trigger emotions within ourselves like, hey, this family doesn't trust me. You know, this is really what needs to happen.

Why are these patients being uncooperative? So how can we stay calm? Because often we get defensive then, right?

Like I'm the doctor. I, you know, you just looked at Google and, but I went through years of training. How can we remain calm and kind of get that relationship back even when we might feel slighted a little bit in terms of their trusting us?

Does that make sense?

[Erica Banta]
It does make sense. You know, I would say that a good strategy in that situation to employ is perspective taking, where you might think about and look through the family's lens. There might be all sorts of other factors, internal, external, that are happening with that family.

So, taking just a little bit of time to build somewhat of a quick relationship and, and taking some time to sort of calm your voice. Some of those strategies I talked about earlier around purposeful pauses and, you know, taking a breath and really explaining. And, you know, look, in my opinion, there is most definitely a power dynamic between a doctor and a patient.

So, when the doctor doesn't feel heard, there's something else going on there with the patient. It's not the doctor. And so, taking some time to say things like, I understand this is a concern for you.

So let me, let's take a step back and let me explain what I'm seeing. Let me explain why this is, this is the, the care that I think might be the best and the most helpful. And let's talk through it together.

Bringing someone on that journey with you and not making assumptions about their level of knowledge, not talking down to patients and doing a little bit of that perspective taking, I think can really help that situation a great deal.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah, absolutely. You know, when we do that and we take the time, which is really important, there's the other pressure that clinicians have on them that we have a busy waiting room and we, people who are waiting too long might leave without being seen. And from a hospital administration point of view, they want to get people through, they want patients to be satisfied and taking time with patients and families can be in direct opposition of that sometimes, which then creates another stress in the clinician, because we also want to make the folks that we work for happy and we want, we want patients to be satisfied.

So how do we walk that thin line of being emotionally intelligent toward families, but also toward the hospital system that we work for and thinking about both of those things together? That's not easy.

[Erica Banta]
No, it's not. No. I think that the key to the success of doing just that is building strong relationships with your team, with your colleagues, and saying, I have a great relationship with my nurse practitioner.

I have a great relationship with the suture tech on my shift. And how can we work together as a team so that I'm not taking everything on, and we can, we can still see patients and give them the time and consideration and thoughtfulness that they deserve. But also, we're working together to ensure that we're getting those patients out of the waiting room and into our offices.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah. And, and it also comes down to looking through the lens of the hospital as well. So, and what I mean by that is, you know, hospitals want to be loved by their community.

They want to take care of kids and families and adults in the adult world. And they don't want people waiting a really long time and not being satisfied. So, you know, it's not like administration in medical settings are out to get doctors.

They just, they have their own priorities. And so as physicians, if we can see the lens of the patient, but also the lens of the system and try to thread, you know, try to thread between those two perspectives and lenses and needs, then I think that we'll, we can do better, but we have to be advocates for both of those things for our patients, but also for the system that has to be there for our patients.

[Erica Banta]
I completely agree. And something that, that we haven't talked about yet is when thinking about, you know, through the lens of the hospital and the system is, is that enterprise taking care of what I like to call the first face? Meaning if I'm a patient that needs care and I walk in the door, who's the first person I interact with?

It could be a receptionist. It could be an intake associate, right? And are those people, are those very valuable employees of our system being trained and understanding how important self-management is and how important EQ is because they're the first face.

And if they are gruff and irritated and being difficult, then the patient, by the time they get to the doctor, they're already in a knot. So, I think that hospitals making sure that there are programs and opportunities for training and reflection in the space of EQ, self-awareness, self-management for those first faces of the system is critical.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah. And those may not be clinicians, right? Those, you know, as you said, they could be the receptionist, the intake person, the triage nurse, which is a medical professional, but really all of those folks, emotional intelligence is important.

And as physicians, we can be a catalyst for having that sort of training and education and practice taking place. But, you know, that takes effort and time, but I think it's something that is definitely worthwhile. Now, as we've talked about this, an important piece has been seeing things through the lens of the person that we're engaging, whether that be fellow staff, colleagues, patients, administration, whatever.

And that then becomes empathy, right? Like really understanding someone's perspective and where they're coming from and how things look through their lens and what's important to them. How can we be better practitioners of empathy as we try to increase our emotional intelligence?

[Erica Banta]
Well, again, I think it's the perspective taking that I talked about. It's also remembering ourselves. We weren't always the subject matter expert.

We were at one point in our lives had just as many questions as our patients do or our team members. And remembering sort of, it sounds kind of silly, but remembering where we came from is, I think, really important to shaping who we are today and how our interactions and our empathy can increase with others. That's a big piece of training when we think about customer service representatives in any number of industries.

It's remembering that you might have heard this question 57 times today, but it's that person's first time asking it. So that's empathy to me is remembering that this is their experience. You are enhancing it.

You are making it better. But ultimately, this is that patient's experience.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
And even now, with the training and the experiences that we have, if you think about other contact that you have with the medical system outside of your job, because medicine is so specialized, like, okay, you know, I know a lot about pediatrics and how to take care of kids in lots of different situations. But I may have a family member who has chronic kidney disease in the adult world. And if I think back to how frustrating that can be, that, you know, like, they're not getting answers, why aren't they running tests?

And, you know, even as a physician, I do a lot of the same things that my patients do, that then I get a little upset in the room if I don't think back to, hey, when I'm talking about my uncle who has chronic kidney disease, I have those same questions and I have those same fears and feelings. And so, you know, calling on different situations in our life that may not be in our field of specialty can also, I think, be helpful in that. Now, when we see poor self-management in team members, how can we address that in a kind way?

You know, I don't think we want to say, you aren't doing a great job with self-management. So, I mean, how can we support self-management among team members when maybe we don't think that's happening very well?

[Erica Banta]
Well, I would like to maybe talk about, in that instance, let's start with what are the consequences of poor self-management and then back into how to support team members when we see those behaviors. We've got, you know, an increased risk of burnout, compassion fatigue, impaired decision-making, maybe impaired clinical judgment, miscommunication. We've talked about that with patients or colleagues.

Escalated conflict in high-stress environments or escalated conflict between, if you're in an academic clinical setting, an escalated conflict between a resident and an attending, right? Patient dissatisfaction, safety concerns, from a hospital perspective, higher turnover, absenteeism. These are all consequences of poor self-management in the medical practice.

So, when we see these things and we're observing them, can we take a pause in our work and say, it seems like things are really tough right now. How can I best support you? Is there, right?

How can I best support you is one of my favorite sentences because it could be, the answer for that could be anything from, I just need you to listen for a minute. I don't need you to do anything. I don't need help.

But can you just listen? Can you just let me vent? Two, do you have time to see a couple of my patients because I'm completely overwhelmed right now?

And just noticing, right? Noticing. Now we're dipping our toes a little bit into the next pillar of EQ, which is that social awareness.

We're dipping into that just a little bit. You have to be observant of the folks around you in order to say, hey, I'm seeing behavior that feels like it can be helped. It can be turned around a little bit.

Do you want to steal away for a few minutes and grab a coffee? Are you doing okay? That's the empathy coming back, right?

And so, we want to try to prevent those poor consequences and noticing in the moment how others are behaving in our sort of sphere of influence is critical to be able to do that.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah, yeah. And I think that's where raising awareness about emotional intelligence and actually helping folks walk through, kind of like we're doing with this podcast series, then the more emotional intelligence that folks know about and can start to practice, and as you said, not just in the clinicians, but those first face people as well, then when things are going awry, you at least have something that you can point back toward.

Like, hey, remember in our emotional intelligence training, we would expect to have some strong feelings about what just happened. So, it could open up conversations that then reinforce the practice of self-management without it being too awkward because it's the culture of the team is such that we have put an importance on emotional intelligence to begin with. So, it makes it natural to talk about.

So, pointing back toward our EQ training, if we have started with that, that can be one way that we can support and remind folks of our training. But what are some other ways that healthcare teams can support self-management among their members?

[Erica Banta]
Well, this comes not only from our teams that we are in direct contact with every day, but as we talk through this, think also how the system or the hospital administration can support these things as well. So, one of the biggest is fostering a culture of emotional safety, encouraging open dialogue about stress, about fatigue, about emotional experiences without judgment, creating that culture where it feels safe to talk about how burnout we are, where that's not something that you need to keep bottled up because we discuss it openly. Normalizing breaks, normalizing time for recovery, supporting team members and taking short mental health or physical breaks, especially during long shifts is a great way to support our team members.

We can model emotionally intelligent leadership from wherever we sit. I'm a firm believer that we are all leaders from where we stand in one form or another, and leaders who demonstrate calm, who demonstrate accountability, who demonstrate empathy really set the tone for the rest of the team. So, making sure that we're modeling that emotionally intelligent leadership.

Offering and encouraging peer support, again, that goes back to sort of fostering that culture of emotional safety. Build trust among colleagues, create opportunities for debriefing or maybe even peer check-ins after really, really challenging cases. Acknowledging effort can go a really long way.

Recognition, it goes so far in just reinforcing emotionally healthy habits. And then to your point, offer training and resources, provide education on emotional intelligence, on mindfulness, on stress management, maybe on conflict resolution, and ensure that that is supported, it's allowed, that time is carved out for that in a very equitable way. I've seen so many organizations that we've put together a fantastic training program, and it's only going to be offered from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Wednesdays. And if you happen to work on another shift, you don't get that opportunity. That is not an equitable way to foster a culture of this safety and emotion, and we have to make sure that everyone has access to this training and resources.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
And I would say that this is something that really should begin in medical school. Like when you're learning, first learning to be a doctor, that emotional intelligence training should be a part of that. In many places, it's not.

But I think as we raise awareness about the importance of emotional intelligence, not just for ourselves, but for our teams and for patients and satisfaction and outcomes and all of those things, that we really do need to make it an important part of medical training. And there's a great article from Harvard Medical School on emotional intelligence for physician leaders that I'm going to put in the show notes as well. And speaking of leaders, what is the relationship between self-management and leadership in medicine?

You talked about that we're all leaders, but those folks who really do have positions of running the thing, why is emotional intelligence so important for them?

[Erica Banta]
Well, again, leaders with strong self-management, they set positive examples for the team. I have worked with leaders in my career who were the perpetual grumpy leader or the perpetual everything is a four-alarm-fire leader. There was never time for reflection.

There was never time for setting those positive examples. And strong self-management is infectious in a good way though. It facilitates effective conflict resolution and decision-making too.

So, if I have a leader that I know is strong, has a high EQ, that I see them practicing that self-awareness and self-management, it's much easier to talk through problems and come to really great decision-making together because that trust has been fostered then. And look, everyone wants a stable and supportive work environment, and leaders really are the drivers of that. We know that people leave a job typically, more often than not, because of the leadership, not because of the actual work that they do.

The toughest jobs in the world, if you have a great leader and a great manager that you're willing to follow, you'll stay in that job a really, really long time because you feel supported and heard and valued. And leaders set the tone for that.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah, yeah. And not only is it infectious in a positive way, but when you have poor self-management in leadership, as you mentioned, that can be infectious too and really drive disaster sometimes. And it has the opposite of increasing patient satisfaction and outcomes and all of those things.

So yeah, really, really important. And then finally, how does self-management not only impact our relationship with our colleagues and with patients and with hospital systems and administration and all of these things, but good self-management also influences our own self-care and work-life balance and preventing burnout. How does self-management impact those things?

[Erica Banta]
Self-management plays a vital role in achieving work-life balance, and I like to say actually work-life harmony. We know that sometimes it's just imbalanced and we can't do anything about that, but if we have work-life harmony and we know that we're one person with one heart and one brain and sometimes I have to put more of that at work and sometimes I have to put more of that energy at home and eventually there'll be an equilibrium, I think that feels really good. So, it's not always balanced.

But self-management, it regulates our emotional responses. It sets healthy boundaries, and it helps us recognize when we need to step back and when we need to recharge. Those are feelings that are complex that we can feel at home too.

In those high-stress environments, that ability to manage your emotions and energy, it helps prevent burnout and that emotional what I'll call spillover into our personal lives. And by staying intentional about how you respond to stress and how you prioritize rest and self-care, I think medical professionals can maintain a greater sense of control, a greater sense of presence, and fulfillment. And that fulfillment is not only at work, but it's at home too.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah, so important. And we do see a lot of burnout and the more difficult that our clinical jobs are, and maybe it's because we are surrounded by a lack of emotional intelligence among colleagues and staff and maybe the culture in a particular place has not really used emotional intelligence to try to improve things. You are going to be burnt out way faster.

It's almost like a toxic stress kind of reaction. But if we can begin to practice emotional intelligence, even if there's not official training programs, but if we are just being examples for our colleagues and staff, then maybe they'll get the idea, and we can improve emotional intelligence and improve burnout rates. And as you mentioned, folks leave jobs because of that.

And to get new folks in costs a lot of money. It costs time. It's not good for the organization.

So, I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but it is just so important. And we'd really appreciate you stopping back again and talking about self-management and that part of emotional intelligence. As I mentioned, we are going to have lots of resources in the show notes for folks.

So be sure to head over to PediaCastCME.org. This is episode 108, and we'll have links to the two books that we had mentioned, Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman and then Emotional Intelligence 2.0. We'll also have links to the other two podcast episodes that we did on this and those journal articles that I had mentioned as well. 

So once again, Erica Banta, Director of Strategic Talent Management for University Advancement at Michigan State University.

Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting with us today.

[Erica Banta]
Thanks for having me, Dr. Mike.

[Dr Mike Patrick]
We are back with just enough time to say thanks once again to all of you for taking time out of your day and making PediaCast CME a part of it. Really do appreciate that. Also, thanks again to our guest this week, Erica Banta.

She is the Director of Strategic Talent Management with University Advancement at Michigan State University. Don't forget, you can find our podcast wherever you get your podcast. We are in the Apple Podcast app, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Audible, YouTube, and most other podcast apps for iOS and Android.

Our landing site is PediaCastCME.org. You'll find our entire archive of past programs there, along with show notes for each of the episodes, our CME information, the terms of use agreement, and that handy contact page if you would like to suggest a future topic for the program. Reviews are also helpful wherever you get your podcasts.

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So, you have listened to the podcast, now be sure to claim your free Category 1 Continuing Medical Education credit. Really easy to do. Simply head over to the show notes for this episode at PediaCastCME.org.

It's episode 108, and in the show notes for this episode, you'll find a link to the post-test. Follow that link to Cloud CME, click on the Materials tab, take and pass the post-test, and the Category 1 credit is yours. Super easy, right?

And again, we offer credit to many pediatric professionals, including doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, social workers, and dentists. Of course, you want to be sure the content of this episode matches your scope of practice. And again, it's emotional intelligence.

This impacts everyone. So, this is definitely one that you should be able to use. But complete details are available at PediaCastCME.org, and of course, check with your professional organization. Also, don't forget about our podcast for parents. Lots of pediatricians and other medical providers also tune in to PediaCast. That's plain PediaCast without the CME, as we cover pediatric news and interview pediatric and parenting experts.

Shows are available at the landing site of that program, pediacast.org. Also available wherever podcasts are found. Simply search for PediaCast without the CME.

And an additional podcast I host you may be interested in is called FAMEcast. This is a faculty development podcast from the Center for Faculty Advancement, Mentoring, and Engagement at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. If you are a teacher in academic medicine or a faculty member in any of the health sciences, then this is a podcast for you.

And you can find FAMEcast at famecast.org. Also, wherever podcasts are found by searching for, you guessed it, FAMEcast. Thanks again for stopping by.

And until next time, this is Dr. Mike saying stay informed, keep it evidence-based, and take care of those kids. So long, everybody.