The network - Towards Unity For Health

Soft Skills Trainingin MalaysiaThe concept of regarding patients as partnersin managing their own health is pivotalin the delivery of quality healthcare in the21 stcentury. Central to developing this part-nership is effective doctor-patient communication.However, numerous studies indicatewidespread deficits in doctor-patient communicationand interpersonal skills.Recognising the shortfall, the WorldFederation for Medical Education recommendedin 1994 that communication skillsshould be an essential component of medicaleducation.In Malaysia, one of the major weaknesses ofgraduates is the astounding lack of ‘softskills’ demanded by society and the competitivejob market (EPU, 2006). To addressthis lack, the Ministry of Higher Educationidentified seven ‘soft skills’; one of thesewas communication skills, which was alsoidentified as one of the important componentsthat lacked in the current humancapital of Malaysia (MOHE, 2006).Evidence-Based ApproachIn the bid to equip the students to face newchallenges and public expectations, theFaculty of Medicine, Universiti TeknologiMARA (UiTM) in Malaysia, took a step forwardby introducing a comprehensive, crosscurriculumcommunication skills training aspart of the ‘hybrid’, integrated and seamlessundergraduate medical curriculum. This wasto realise the Faculty’s mission to producecompetent doctors with solid scientific foundationimbued with strong humanistic valuesand soft skills.Following extensive literature reviews anddiscussions amongst the local experts, theFaculty chose the enhanced Calgary-Cambridge Guide to the Medical Interview(Kurtz et al., 2003; Silverman et al., 2005) asthe basis to formulate the cross-curriculumcommunication skills training. This enhancedguide identifies a total of more than 70 core,evidence-based communication process skillsCommunication skills teachingthat fit into the framework of tasks andobjectives. The group of researchers foundthat unless communication skills are integratedwith history taking, physical examination,and medical problem solving, learnersare unlikely to apply communication skillsthey have learned in real-life medical practice.The guide marries the ‘process’ and the‘content’ of the medical interview.The training programme was implementedfrom the academic year 2005/2006 acrossthe five-year undergraduate curriculum.Challenges and Future DirectionsAlthough great measures have been taken tostandardise the teaching framework andmethods, the greatest challenges remain inincreasing the Faculty’s teaching expertiseand inculcating positive attitudes towardscommunication skills teaching and rolemodelling.Yearly workshops are conductedto improve faculty skills.Improvement of the infrastructure, for example,building a communication skills laboratory,is well under way. There are also ongoingresearches in evaluating the effectivenessof the programme and assessing students’attitude towards communication skillslearning.ConclusionWith the current demand of quality healthcaredelivery, there is no doubt that communicationskills training should be integratedacross the continuum of the medical educationin consistent and effective ways.Research reveals that although communicationskills can be learned in medical schools,it also can be forgotten if training is not sufficientlytargeted and reinforced throughoutmedical education (Craig, 1992; Davis &Nicholaou, 1992).The experience in UiTM can provide a possiblemodel of cross-curriculum communicationskills training to be implemented in a developingcountry where resources and teachingexpertise in this field is limited.The Faculty has high hopes that it will realiseits mission to produce medical graduateswho are not only clinically competent, butwho are also imbued with strong interpersonalcommunication skills that will make adifference in the way medicine is being practicedin Malaysia.ReferencesCRAIG, J.L. (1992). Retention of interviewingskills learned by first-year medicalstudents: A longitudinal study. MedicalEducation, 26, 276-81.DAVIS, H., & NICHOLAOU, T. (1992). A comparisonof the interviewing skills of firstand final year medical students. MedicalEducation, 26, 441-7.ECONOMIC PLANNING UNIT (2006). NinthMalaysia Plan 2006-2010. The PrimeMinister’s Department, Putrajaya, 559.KURTZ, S., SILVERMAN, J., BENSON, J., &DRAPER, J. (2003). Marrying content andprocess in clinical method teaching:Enhancing the Calgary-Cambridge Guides.Academic Medicine, 78, 802-9.MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATIONMALAYSIA (2006). Development of softskills module for institutions of higherlearning. Universiti Putra Malaysia.SILVERMAN, J., KURTZ, S., & DRAPER, J.(2005). Teaching and learning communicationskills in Medicine. Oxford/SanFrancisco: Radcliffe Publishing Ltd.Anis Safura Ramli | Corresponding author;Senior Lecturer & Primary Care MedicineDiscipline Coordinator, Faculty of Medicine,Universiti Teknologi MARA, MalaysiaEmail: rossanis_yuzadi@yahoo.co.ukD E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8N E W S L E T T E R N U M B E R 0 2 | V O L U M E 2 713