Essential Soft Skills for Healthcare Workers

Healthcare workers are entrusted with the great responsibility of caring for people. In order to continually offer comfort and care to people, there are certain skills that healthcare professionals need to master. Of course there are the obvious ones related to their profession, but certain soft skills like empathy are also integral in the field of healthcare for more meaningful interactions. Those working in healthcare need to be emotionally intelligent, work well under pressure, adapt to stressful situations and be resilient. These skills will ensure they are well suited to the needs of this profession.

Communicating with Empathy

The phrase ‘put yourself in someone else’s shoes’ is the easiest way to explain what empathy is. Empathy is the ability to understand why someone is feeling the way that they are feeling, rather than looking at it from just your own perspective. A multitude of other attributes are required to be able to practice it; these include being open minded, tolerance, communication and patience.

Contrary to popular belief, empathy is not a trait that is just inbuilt from the moment we are born or from our childhood – it can be learnt. There are soft skills trainings that focus on teaching skills such as empathy on a small or large scale. Partaking in these trainings helps participants understand vital traits required to exhibit more empathy. This is especially important for healthcare workers because various delicate situations arise in which they need to deal with people whilst displaying emotional intelligence. During their practical work such as nursing patients back to health, empathy is key to working with people who are in need of help. A decline in health of a person or a loved one causes immense stress. At this moment, those working in healthcare industry need to be able to effectively listen and offer the right words to people. The frontline staff at hospitals and clinics also need to be trained in the essential skill of empathy so they can communicate in the correct manner.

Stress Management

An essential skill for those working in health management is the ability to manage stress well. Every profession has its share of worries but healthcare field in particular is one where stressful situations can arise any time and can overwhelm individuals as was seen during the Covid-19 pandemic. Doctors, nurses, management and administration; all can be presented with high pressure conditions within very short spans of time so understanding how to function in such circumstances is imperative so that they can perform their jobs effectively.

Soft skill trainings are available nowadays that teach stress management to those who feel overwhelmed in high pressure situations. These courses offer medical professionals the strategies needed to be able to effectively deal with stress inducing conditions. Mental and emotional wellbeing of healthcare workers is vital to be able to deal with health emergencies and crises. Being able to cope with stress will lead to better patient care and improved interactions.

Interpersonal Skills

A very important part of any profession, especially related to healthcare, is knowing how to interact with people keeping in mind diversity, different perspectives and personality traits. Interpersonal skills enable impactful interactions with coworkers, patients and the loved ones of patients. Being able to deal with all types of people in all kinds of scenarios is an ability that is directly linked to better interactions and success at the workplace.

Effective communicators are capable of carefully handling a diverse set of circumstances. They can easily read what the other people involved are conveying, with both their words as well as their body language, and so are equipped to respond at the same level as the person they are communicating with. Learning to hone your interpersonal skills will ensure that dealing with patients or their loved ones or anyone else in a difficult moment will progress smoothly. This holds true especially now that the world is just recovering from a major worldwide public health crisis – knowing how to communicate with panicked people is something that only those with the right skillset are capable of doing.

Resilience

Resilience is the ability to cope with traumatic incidents in a way that allows you to move past them without being completely shaken. It is the capacity to handle and adapt to challenges. It is a very important trait for professionals working in turbulent situations. In line with the ability to manage stress, resilience is a quality that incorporates all the facets of handling pressure well. The field of healthcare requires workers to be strong and resilient as they may face a lot of traumatic circumstances at times; if they do not develop the ability to withstand this, they will not be able to work well in this profession.

Being responsible for public health in any capacity is not an easy task. There are many factors that need to be kept in mind while working in this profession, hard skills as well as soft skills need to be learnt. However, some basic skills mentioned above are sure to help those working in the healthcare industry work more efficiently.