This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Contractual Partners From this section it is possible to access to a description of each contractual partner of the Softis-Ped project.
Lecturers From this section it is possible to access to the information about the paediatric lecturers involved in the Softis-Ped Project in the 5 European countries involved.
Residents Working with Children Information From this section it is possible to access to the information about the paediatricians involved in the Softis-Ped Project in the 5 European countries involved.
Paediatric students From this section it is possible to access to the information about the paediatric students involved in the Softis-Ped Project in the 5 European countries involved.
Associated Partners As a result of the exploitation activity a number of associated partners officially joined the project in order to contribute to the improvement of the project impact on their target groups and to ensure the project sustainability by continuing using the project deliverables in the next years.

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Training of Lecturers

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This training package is addressed to lecturers and trainers in the field of paediatrics on how to assist paediatric undergraduate and resident students in developing and consolidating their soft skills for improving the quality of paediatric services.

Communication with Children

Table of Content

1.4 Teaching soft-skills

Teaching soft skills does not necessarily involve special methods, rather teaching/learning methods and strategies involved in general doctor-patient communication can be applied.

Team-based learning (TBL): Team-based learning is a learner-centred, instructor-directed strategy that incorporates class-based teamwork and assessment to enhance active learning and critical thinking.
Flipped Classroom (FC): The ‘Flipped Classroom’ refers to an approach to teaching where the traditional class-time and self-study activities are reversed or ‘flipped’.
Role play (RP): It is important to recognise that students learn in different ways and that role-play may be a preferred method for students who learn through concrete experiences.
Yes/No scenarios: in Yes/No scenarios students are offered both the good and the bad solution to a problem, approach to an interview, etc. Students can arrive at the good solution either inductively or deductively, themselves, depending on the amount of autonomy/control they work with or they can be given only the bad scenario and they have to discover the good one.
Problem-Based Learning (PBL): In this approach, students learn in small groups supported by a tutor. They initially explore a predetermined problem.
Reflective Learning (RL): Reflective Learning is an important model of learning that is based on the principle of gaining knowledge and insight from the learner's own experience.
Simulations and Models: these are tools for assessment of clinical performance in an environment closely resembling reality and imitating real clinical problems, to rate the examinees' performance on clinical problems that are difficult or even impossible to evaluate effectively without harming a real patient.
Simulated Patient (SP): Simulated patients are healthy persons who have been trained to reliably reproduce the history and/or physical findings of typical clinical cases. Sometimes actors are used to accomplish this goal but more often, health care providers are used. The use of an SP is designed to assess students' clinical skills while making the examination as objective as possible.

Online Resources

Glossary of Medical Education TermsWojtczak, A. (2003) Glossary of Medical Education Terms. AMEE Occasional Paper No 3. Dundee:AMEE.
Team-based learning: A practical guide: AMEE Guide No. 65As the title suggests, this is a practical guide to team-based learning.
Michaelsen, L.K. (2004) Team-Based Learning: A Transformative Use of Small Groups in College Teaching. Stylus Publishing.This is a complete guide to implementing TBL in a way that will promote deep learning.
Davidson, L.K. (2011) A 3-year experience implementing blended TBL: Active instructional methods can shift student attitudes to learning.This article reports on 3 years of experience implementing a blend of team-based learning (TBL) and online learning modules in an undergraduate medical course.
Parmelee, D.X. and Hudes, P. (2012) Team-based learning: A relevant strategy in health professionals’ education.This article explains the importance and relevance of TBL in healthcare education, and supports its inclusion as an eff ective learning strategy
Video clip - University of Texas at Austin (2011) Team-Based Learning: Group Work that WorksThis excellent video from the University of Texas at Austin provides a valuable summary of Team-Based Learning (TBL) in action.
Bergman, J., Overmyer, J. & Wilie, B. (2011) ‘The Flipped Class: What it is and What it is not” The Daily RiffThis article introduces the notion of the Flipped class method, exemplifying what the method really is and what it is not.
Joyner B, Young L. Teaching medical students using role-play: Twelve tips for successful role-plays. Medical Teacher. 2006;28:225–229. doi: 10.1080/01421590600711252.The article offers tips about how to be able to improve role-plays
Role-play for medical students learning about communication: Guidelines for maximising benefitsThis article presents the advantages and disadvantages of using role plays

Table of Content