Chapters authored
Making Soft Skills a Part of the Curriculum of Healthcare Studies
In recent decades, it has been increasingly recognized that soft skills play an important role in healthcare education and must be developed alongside other professional skills. Furthermore, the contribution of emotional intelligence (EI) to the ability to adapt to the changing environment of the 21st century has been widely agreed upon. Yet, despite these findings, social–emotional intelligence (SEI) and related skills skills are not widely developed in healthcare education settings, and if at all, only in a limited way. The present chapter presents a model and a methodological tool (SE-SD) for the development of social–emotional skills (SEI) as part of existing healthcare curricula, applying a broad view of the healthcare professions and associated skills. Soft, social–emotional, skills are positioned as a relevant and integral part of healthcare courses, thereby avoiding the need for significant changes in existing curricula. The SEI development process is implemented in three stages: preparation, action and assessment. The tool allows learners to embark on a self-directed, yet supervised, learning and development process, and can be applied to a single course or through the entire study program. The incorporation of a soft skill development process into healthcare education programs could help health systems to adapt and to cope better with the challenges of the 21st century, both present and future.
Part of the book: Medical Education for the 21st Century
Students Guided Learning for Medical Students - Novel Teaching for the 21st Century
The changing demands of the Western organizational and academic world are having a great impact on the medical profession. Adapting medical students’ learning to as-yet-unknown future needs requires changes in learning objectives, methods, and assessment and the development of new skills. Students frequently express initial opposition to paradigms that require them to take responsibility for their learning process and invest greater effort. They may be uncooperative, and this may impede their training and the adoption of such changes in other courses. This qualitative study examines changes in attitudes toward student-centered learning among 120 medical students who experienced student-guided learning (SGL), a novel method emphasizing the student’s primary role and self-expression, in a 3-unit course titled Patient–Therapist Relationship. The data were gathered from reflective journals the students kept during the course. The application of SGL methods resulted in changes in students’ attitudes toward adopting new teaching methodologies. Their initial opposition was expressed in low motivation, lack of cooperation, negative attitudes toward assignments, and lack of motivation toward adopting changes. At the end of the course there was an improvement in students’ openness to change, and they showed a greater desire and higher motivation to adopt new paradigms and innovative methodologies.
Part of the book: Medical Education for the 21st Century