Use your EQ not your IQ
Richard Oguguo Igwe
Shuffle, muffled voice, trying to stall at the door
Already called, downfall is beginning
Scared to call out for the fear of the sinning
Cradling, fear of labelling in a hand that’s broke
Hope for enabling, hold back tears as I choke
Hope to invoke a smile, I walk in with greeting
Standing, contemplating, waiting for please be seated
Hi, why, when so lets take a look
Too shook up for words straight out of a book
Out of luck now, referred straight to a third party
You can’t start me, I’m not a car you see
There is more to me, this is more of an art you see
This is the manifest of the depressed
Never request for help so I always suppress
This is all a test, scared of an inquest
Too messed to realise it looks like my child I detest
Shorn of my partner, stand alone torn
No time to mourn hands full with newborn
Newborn, newborn begins to cry,
Its beat so rhythmic, I just want it to die
So I pull back my fist, clenched, miss
But I just want it to die
Use your EQ not just your IQ
Then your consultation will fly-true
Even thought it is a very dramatic and (maybe) unrealistic situation it tries to emphasise how doctors should try and take a holistic approach and heal the whole problem, as often the physical illness is liked to the patient’s emotions. That’s why the second to last line which reads “Use your EQ not just your IQ” EQ (emotional intelligence) was a theme that was talked about a lot in Whole Person Care and how a doctor needs to constantly develop and nurture it to be the best to himself and his patients. In this last line I was trying to stress how a doctor has to be both scientifically and emotionally tuned in to get to the crux of their patients problems.
The process of creating the work was hard because it was difficult to convey the message I wanted to put across and make sure that it rhymed and that emphasis was put in the correct places. I found that I had to create a song from scratch to make sure it suited the lyrics. It was also hard trying to imagine myself as the character and the range of emotions that she would be going through, such as anger, confusion and neglect. However overall it was enjoyable experience as it allowed me to express my creative side through music and apply it to medicine.
This rap is an extremely powerful piece. Not only because a baby is involved and you immediately feel compassion for the child, but because the mother is attempting to seek help from her GP but he is unable to see past her physical injuries. This, I believe, highlights the frustration of the GP consultation, that they have 10 minutes to try and discover what somebodies real reason for being there is. I think the author of this piece has shown this in a very modern, original and effective way.
This masterpiece is truly inspiring in the sense that it conveys the message of the patient as well as the doctor and deals with the situation as a whole with a great sense of realism. The work definitely evokes a sense of superficial happiness that some health professionals accept for face value and do not concern themselves with the underlying issues. The author has made an excellent art piece in which despite difficulties the balance between conveying emotion and rapping rhythmically and in rhyme has been well achieved.
I applaud the ability of the author to tune into and convey the different emotions the patient was feeling in a poetic and storytelling manner. You could get the sense that the patient felt sad, angry, disappointed and ashamed. I particularly loved the line ‘There is more to me, this is more of an art you see’ which highlights that there is an art to medicine and it is not about having all the scientific knowledge alone. I also love that the author was able to touch on a range of pressing issues in medicine including; the difficulties patients face in opening up in a short GP consultation, the difficulties doctors face in trying to find out what the real problem is while being very pressed for time, the importance of taking a holistic approach to medicine, the importance of emotional intelligence all while shining a light on postnatal depression and the emotional toll single parenthood can have.
This is a great rap song with a succinct but strong and direct message showing the perspective of a patient seeing the GP but also simultaneously showing the perspective of the doctor. It is difficult to write a good rap song but even more difficult to do so using a clinical setting as a source of inspiration. It gives a sense of truth to the listener regarding how difficult and sometimes frustrating it may be for a GP to interact with a patient whilst still trying to accurately diagnose and help whilst also having a holistic approach. The last two lines show the essence and the main point of this piece of music namely that it is ought that doctors can make use of both emotions and knowledge to help their patients and thus make the most out of their consultations.
This piece truly evokes the meaning of holistic care- and emphasises the art that is a GP consultation. He highlights the importance of not just seeing the consultation as a checklist, but as a chance to utilise one of a doctors’ most powerful tools, EQ, by using a situation which, despite being fictional, mirrors what I’m sure happens frequently in GP surgeries, . This is something which has been emphasised to me throughout my journey into medicine and my teaching so far, and something which I will ensure sticks with me throughout. Igwe’s piece ensures we feel the emotion felt by the mother without judgement in a carefully thought through and modern interpretation, enabling the audience to listen in a way we feel the doctor should be doing.
This piece explores the problem of superficial consultations – taking what the patient says at face value without being able to interpret their emotions or being willing to explore further. This is demonstrated using the fictional example of a mother suffering from postnatal depression and injuring herself in an attempt to harm her new-born.
The title of the piece is “Use your EQ not your IQ”. This clearly communicates the purpose of the work without being too verbose. The author is a male medical student and they are writing from the perspective of a young mother experiencing emotional turmoil. This dichotomy is acknowledged by the author however I believe that they were successful in presenting the mother’s viewpoint in a non-judgemental and emotive way.
The rap is split into two sections: the first from the perspective of the mother and the second from the perspective of the author. The gap between these sections allows the reader to consider the events before the author presents their prescription however I think that the second section is unnecessary and unsubtle as this message was communicated directly by the title and indirectly by the first section.
I think that the choice to focus on the perspective of the mother rather than the doctor was interesting as it presented the need for a more holistic approach to treatment without focusing on blaming the doctor or making excuses for them. I think that writing the main body of the rap in this way is more effective in changing practitioners’ approaches. On the other hand, I think that the argument could be made that writing in this way makes it harder to present the prescription that practitioners should focus on their emotional intelligence when dealing with patients as it isn’t obvious what the practitioner was focusing on during the consultation.
The use of rap as the medium of this art is not only entertaining and compelling but it also emphasises the emotional aspect since rap as a medium is one that frequently discusses controversial topics and raw human emotion. I appreciated some of the subtleties within the rap as I had to review it a couple of times to understand the woman’s story – which highlights how as a doctor you cannot possibly extract everything there is to know about a patient and their situation from a quick review, you need to go more in-depth and focus on the details. The use of a baby and the imagery of an infant being harmed was disturbing and generates a sense of urgency surrounding the issue – consultations must use EQ over IQ to prevent any similar situation from occurring. As I read it I also got the sense that the woman wanted to share her emotional and mental turmoil with the doctor but felt unable to and wasn’t given a chance to, implying that us as doctors should make the first step to ask those holistic questions so that the patient doesn’t leave without everything being addressed.