News

Hard won soft skills

2 mins read Mentoring, reflection and PDPs
During education, emphasis is often placed on the more formally challenging skills, on technical ability and knowledge. However, soft skills are invaluable across all careers and to dental professionals this applies more than most.

Someone that cannot articulate treatment details in a clear and convincing way creates uncertainty and doubt in the minds of patients and colleagues, leading to inefficiency – regardless of their acumen.

What do we mean when we say soft skills? These encompass a broad range of capabilities that include people skills, communication and social skills, as well as what may be considered productive attributes such as creative thinking and problem solving.

In part, soft skills have probably been under-emphasised in formal education due to the relative difficulty in evaluating them. It is hard to devise a test that can measure these more social and adaptive skills compared to areas with objective answers. This state of affairs also likely owes to an unspoken belief that soft skills are things that should be picked up automatically. Whilst they do come easier to some than others, these are learned skills that require knowledge and practice.

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting Dental Nursing and reading some of our resources. To read more, please register today. You’ll enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included

  • Up to 2 free articles per month

  • New content available

Register

Already have an account? Sign in here