Soft skills efficacy and validity for establishing a simulated patient's diagnosis: results of a pilot study conducted at the Medical Institute of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)

• Anna I. Badretdinova
• Anna S. Klimenko
• Liya G. Akhuba
• Anatoliy O. Ostaev
• Zhanna G. Tigai

Abstract

To date, soft skills allow a medical specialist to more effectively solve various medical, diagnostic and administrational tasks while providing the medical care. soft skills are comprised of a series of practical experiences which can determine better therapeutic outcomes due to constructing proper relationships between physician and patient at all stages of medical care provision. Without doubt soft skills are as crucial as clinical thinking and practical medical skills due to high frequency of events when patients may be unsatisfied with correct medical intervention only due to low communicative skills of the physician disregarding his/her high competency and professionalism. Since 2018 primary medical accreditation of medical graduates in the Russian Federation includes a pilot OSCE (objective structured clinical examination) station - soft skills assessment. This pilot project was aimed to evaluate the level of communicational capability (the accuracy and consistency of soft skills implication into practice with simulated patient) as well as its validity for determining the correct diagnostic hypothesis. Results of this pilot study revealed the association between communicative capability and accuracy of established clinical syndromes at the doctor-patient interaction stage. Moreover, established results outline the extreme necessity for further thorough elaborating of soft skills among medical specialists and emphasize the necessity of including soft skills training classes into major educational program of tertiary medical education.

Keywords:коммуникативные навыки, Калгари-Кембриджская модель, медицинская консультация

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