Need for soft skills for docs stressed

With an intent to train the undergraduates and postgraduate medical students in soft skills in order to bring back the era of visiting family doctors, Human Potential India (HPI) — a private training centre — has approached the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS).

Explaining the need for soft skills, Adarsh, the founder of HPI, said doctors today have lost that empathetic warm touch towards their patients as treatment has become more commercial.

“Earlier visiting a family doctor had more to do than just check-up. Today's doctors do not have that patience. This may be due to the pressure and the stress of seeing many patients in a day. The next generation doctors need to be taught about the right attitude and gratitude towards the noble profession,” added Adarsh.

The HPI had conducted a one-day training programme in 2015 at the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute ( BMCRI) and had got a very positive response from the faculty and students.

Dr Devadass P K, the then dean and director of BMCRI said the interpersonal relationship is slowly disappearing in the medical professional. The conflict between doctors and patients, where there have been incidences of doctors being beaten up by people, is mainly due to lack of this relationship.

"In most of the government hospitals, it is the junior doctors, including postgraduates and house surgeons, who handle patients in the out-patient department," added Dr Devadass.

Although the curriculum for the fresh batch of MBBS students from August 2019 has been revised where various topics like language, communication and ethics have been included, the present medical students, including practitioners, have to be trained on how to speak to the patients.

Dr S Sacchidananda, vice chancellor, RGUHS, said: "The fresh batch of students will be studying the new curriculum. However, the current medical students do also need such training in soft skills. The HPI had approached us to have a training session. We will take up the decision shortly," he added.