The EI construct is only 20 years old and although research has already been undertaken over this time to explore the value of EI in healthcare, this work remains in its infancy. Nonetheless, there is evidence of the value of EI in medicine, nursing, radiography, physiotherapy and psychology.

Arora [7] undertook a systematic review of the relationship between EI and doctors core competencies of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. They found high EI positively contributed to the doctor-patient relationship, increased empathy, teamwork and communication skills, stress management, organisational commitment and leadership. It was noted that many of the studies were cross sectional in design and that more longitudinal research was needed to explore the long term impact of EI.

A key narrative review [8] of EI in nursing concluded that understanding and recognising emotion is a high order skill, vital to nursing practice. The authors also believed that understanding, detecting and conveying emotion is pivotal to a profession that requires sensitivity within relationships. Further evidence of its value came from Rankin [9] who explored the relationship between EI outcomes of a nursing degree programme and found positive correlations between practice performance of 1st years nursing students and EI. This was a small study of 1st year nurses only, so further research is required. The role of EI in care of dying among accident and emergency nurses was characterised in a qualitative study [10]. They found nurses were better able to manage the emotional labour of caring for the dying and their relatives through the development of EI.

The evidence in physiotherapy research has not demonstrated a positive relationship between EI and physiotherapy performance. Lewis [11] explored the relationship between EI and the clinical performance but found no significant correlations. Their study used the MSCEIT and a published clinical performance instrument for physiotherapy. Another study [12] also failed to show a relationship between EI and performance in physical therapy students. There were no statistically significant differences found in EI between physical therapy student scores at the start of the programme and after their first clinical block. This study used the Barr on EQi – a mixed model instrument. Both these studies were small and further research is needed to explore the role of EI in physical therapy performance.

There have been no empirical studies identified in radiography, using science direct, Scopus and Google scholar, which provide evidence for a relationship between emotional intelligence and clinical performance. However there have been two benchmarking studies [13, 14] and three narrative reviews [15–17]. One study [13], which used the Trait EI model, showed that radiographers are more emotionally intelligent than the general population, scoring more highly on Global EI along with three of the four factors, Well-being, Self control and Emotionality. Interestingly no differences were identified between diagnostic and therapeutic radiographers. The EI of different subspecialties of radiographer e.g. Mammographer, MR radiographer, nuclear medicine radiographer, were compared. Mammographers scored more highly than other subspecialties for well-being and emotionality. It can be seen from the descriptions in Table 11.1 that mammographers, as a group, perceive themselves, more so than other radiographer subspecialties, as cheerful, confident and with a positive outlook, plus they are able to perceive their own and others feelings, are able to communicate those feelings and are empathic. These are vitally important traits when managing clients/patients with possible breast cancer in what could often be described as an emotionally charged environment.

The narrative reviews discuss the theoretical value that EI might have in a radiography context. One paper [15] uses a case study approach with a real patient’s experience and explains how emotional intelligence can be used to avoid the objectification or de-personalisation of the patient that can happen in healthcare particularly as a result of stress and fatigue [18]. With the increase in numbers of clients expected following the age extension for breast screening [19] and the short time period within which to image each patient it is likely that the busier environment in breast screening could be more stressful for staff. Development of EI skills which help staff to manage stress and promote wellbeing is a possible solution to this problem. Further research is needed to demonstrate whether there is a link between EI and patient care or clinical performance in radiography.

A growing body of evidence now exists to show that EI skills can be taught and developed. Two key papers demonstrated this in psychology students [20, 21]. A controlled experimental design was used in three separate experiments. They showed that emotional intelligence could be changed with an evidence-based training programme. These programmes lasted 18–20 h and were delivered over several weeks allowing participants to apply the taught theory to the real world. The syllabus covered holistic EI skills rather than focussing on one aspect of EI and results showed sustainable improvements in emotional functioning and long-term personality changes. There were also important positive implications in various other measures such as life satisfaction and proficiency in social relationships. A range of educational activities are available for improving one’s EI. The Higher Education Academic website contains activities [22] that can improve self awareness, relieve stress and active listening.