A Importância da Inteligência Emocional para a Prática Médica do Internista no Futuro

In the near future, technological innovation alongside with population ageing will justify adaptive changes in health systems and in the way we practice medicine, posing many challenges to the specialty of Internal Medicine. Despite the unprecedented ability to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease, the focus on the sick person in its circumstantial context will continue to be central to the care provided. Emotional intelligence, which can be developed throughout life, has been a research subject applied to medicine over the last decades and its impact has been demonstrated in several areas such as the doctor-patient relationship, job satisfaction, patient satisfaction and safety, medical training and healthcare leadership development. This narrative review aims to define and frame emotional intelligence as an important tool for the internist's future clinical practice.