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.