Medical students on the value of role models for developing 'soft skills' - "That's the way you do it

Abstract

Objective: The Soft Skills Project examined the professional development of medical students at the University of Pretoria, especially their doctor-patient interaction skills and professional socialisation. This paper reports on one of the findings of the project, namely the importance that medical students attach to role models in the development of soft skills. Methods: We used a qualitative method with symbolic interactionism and grounded theory as framework. Fourty two final-year students from the last cohort following the traditional curriculum at the University of Pretoria in 2001, and 49 final years from the first cohort following the reformed curriculum in 2002 were recruited. Data were collected by applying focus groups, in-depth, individual interviews, as well as autobiographical sketches. Data were captured by means of audio tape recordings, transcripts of the tapes, researchers' field notes, and written accounts by students, and were analysed by using a general inductive approach. Results: There were no striking differences between the comments of the two groups. Students considered registrars to be the most influential role models in the clinical teaching context, followed by specialist consultants. Their idea of a good role model was a clinically and academically competent doctor that cared about patients, had good interpersonal skills, and who could inspire students. Students needed and appreciated good role models to help them to develop their own soft skills. They expected guidance and behavioural examples from clinical teachers. Although there were competent role models, the students were exposed to poor role models. Poor role models mainly affect students negatively. Students tend to imitate and perpetuate unacceptable behaviour. Furthermore, poor role models have a negative emotional effect on students and are detrimental to their moral and learning environment. Sometimes, poor role models have a paradoxical positive effect in the sense that they inform students how not to behave. Conclusion: Medical schools and medical doctors working with medical students should be consciously aware of the importance of role models both when allocating clinical teachers to students, and while performing duties with students. It is especially necessary to realise that poor role modelling has important detrimental effects on students. Therefore, an attempt should be made to ensure that not only clinical examination skills, but also soft skills, are demonstrated at the bedside. Measures to ensure adequate exposure of students to positive role models could include: staff development; the identification of good role models to guide registrars; and a reallocation of tasks, where possible, to increase the exposure of students to the 'natural' role models.

Teaching professionalism: a South African perspective

“…In the socialization process role models play an important role (Maudsley, 2001;Joubert et al 2006). …”

The conceptualisation of "soft skills" among medical students before and after curriculum reform

“…Following international trends, this shift was made at the deliberate expense of the traditional factual overload, working instead ORIGINAL S Afr Psychiatry Rev 2006;9:33-37 towards students' becoming lifelong learners. 2 Various programmes were designed and implemented locally for the development of these skills and attitudes, which we collectively called "soft skills".…”

“…It describes students' appreciation of what soft skills are about, and it precedes a paper that reports on the principal way in which students acquire their soft skills -namely through psychiatrists and other clinicians being role models to them. 2 …”

Medical students’ experience and perceptions of their final rotation in psychiatry

“…Students' positive experience of staff members also demonstrates the importance of role models. [28][29][30][31][32] The students' recommendation for increasing the number of lectures was a surprising finding, as they had already completed theoretical blocks where the issues they mentioned had been addressed. The last theoretical block before the final 18-month complex starts is a pharmacotherapy block, which may explain the higher level of confidence of 5th-year students in their prescribing skills.…”