The role of interpersonal interactions in emotional regulation in medical student learning

Abstract

Learning to monitor and regulate one’s emotions in an academic setting is a task that all students must engage in. Successful emotional regulation can lead to better learning outcomes. This paper explores emotional regulation in medical education in the context of learning how to give bad news to patients. In particular, we examine the role that patient’s emotions play in influencing medical student’s emotional regulation and consequent learning about how best to communicate bad news. In this regard, we examine the social aspect of metacognition (Salonen, Vauras & Efklides, 2005) and examine how private cognitions are influenced by social experiences (Hacker & Bol, 2004). This paper defines and assesses emotional regulation in terms of what strategies medical students need to use to monitor and control emotions. It also provides a prototype for how technology can be used to foster monitoring skills in medical students so that they can better communicate with their patients and increase patient motivation and overall satisfaction during the disclosure of bad news. Enhancing emotional regulation can lead to more effective forms of physician-patient communication, which ultimately leads to better patient care.