Gujarat: Deans and senior professors impart soft skills to young medicos

Ahmadabad : A seminar to impart soft skills to 700 medical college students of 6 institutions in Ahmedabad, Gujarat was organized recently. They were to be equipped to handle interactions with patients and their relatives at this seminar. The training was being imparted for patients of government and corporate hospitals

The seminar's main objective was to close the gaps between patient relatives and the doctors, due to prevailing misunderstandings or communication problems.

Senior doctors conducted seminars on medico-legal issues, effective communication, humane approach while breaking bad news, behavioural demeanour, avoiding medical negligence and control of infectious diseases within medical facilities.

The students of three Army medical colleges (AMC) and government colleges each were also informed about the accurate certification of cause of death, anti-ragging law, as well as the rational and optimum use of hospital resources.

Dr Rajnish Patel, Professor of Surgery at BJ Medical College told Ahmedabad Mirror, "This component has been missing from medical education for far too long. That is why we professors from all colleges decided to impart the same to the students as soon as they were admitted to the colleges so that they can better adapt to deal with patients during their residency years."

Administrators of these colleges vouched that the event was the first in the history of the college and Gujarat's medical education to provide this nature of orientation to the state 's doctors.

Pranay Shah, Dean, BJ Medical College, said, "First-year resident doctors are the first respondents to patients and since they are often under stress while dealing with an overload of patients at government hospitals, they may not be in a condition to adequately answer concerns of relatives and this may lead to conflict. We are trying to avoid the same through these 7-hour-long seminars."

Held in two batches – one took shape on May 24 at NHL Municipal Medical College for the postgraduate students of AMCMET , NHL and GCS Medical Colleges; the other was held at BJ Medical College for the postgraduate students of BJMC, GMERS Sola and GMERS Gandhinagar Medical Colleges, on June 1.