Soft Skills Awareness Among General Dental Practitioners, Residents and Specialists

Abstract

Objective: To assess the awareness level and need perception of soft skills among general dental practitioners (GDPs), dental residents and specialists. Study Design: Mixed method study Place and Duration of Study: Armed Forces Institute of Dentistry (AFID), Rawalpindi and 28 Military Dental Centre (28 MDC), Lahore Pakistan, from Mar to Sep 2020. Methodology: A mixed method study research design with descriptive and explorative strategies was used to formulate a survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews for participants aged 24-60, medically fit, with a minimum of one year of practical experience, and willing to participate. Results: 136(74.37%) knew the basic concept of soft skills being non-technical skills, as they classified their awareness of soft skills as ‘Partially Aware’. Only 9(4.91%) responded as being ‘Expert’ in this topic. 38(20.76%) were totally ‘Unaware’. Regarding the need for teaching soft skills to dental students, 171(93.44%) participants wanted soft skills teaching to begin in the undergraduate years. Conclusion: Participating dental professionals understood the basic concept of soft skills but needed a formal knowledge of what it entails. There is a dire need for the dental professional to have a satisfactory knowledge of soft skills to improve their overall job performance.

Keywords

• Communication
• Dentistry
• Interpersonal
• Normative Education
• Soft Skills