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.
Training of Lecturers
Training for Paediatricians and Paediatric Students
Multilanguage dictionary of medical terms
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Contractual Partners
From this section it is possible to access to a description of each contractual partner of the Softis-Ped project.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Events
The Softis-Ped project has been promoted trough conferences and articles.
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Conferences
The Softis-Ped project was presented in a number of events in order to report about the activities carried out and the results achieved
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Training Activity
The training activity 'Soft Skills in Pediatrics' was held at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Tirgu Mures (RO)
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Press Review
The Softis-Ped project partnership made contacts with web sites focusing on the fields of paediatrics and education
This section of the Softis-Ped portal provides administrative information for the project contractual partners and for the European Commission and it is password protected.
Training of Lecturers
Homepage > Training > Training of Lecturers
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.
Communicating with Parents
2.3. Soft Skills
2.3.3 Simple Language, Expressive Communication
Not all parents have a good educational and intelligence level. Explaining things in simple, clear, and direct language is very important. Clarity and directness are particularly important with parents of limited health literacy. Most patients are not familiar with the medical terms and 89-93% of doctors fail to check if they understood the explanation or not. Therefore, patients memorize only 50-60% of the information provided (Pilling 2008). Parents may have trouble following dosing and care instructions, calculating the correct amount of medication to take and reading nutrition labels. Simple language is a strategy that can be applied on both written and verbal communication.
There are many useful and effective techniques to make communication with parents easier. Using simple words, short sentences and explaining medical jargon constitute the first step in avoiding misunderstandings. Breaking complex information in short statements and providing the most important information first and later focusing on the two or three most important concepts can also be helpful to parents, especially if they have no possibility to take notes. Visual aids like drawings, models and diagrams might facilitate better understanding of biological facts and statistics.
Sometimes language barriers, cultural and personality differences can also influence effectiveness of information transmission. Patients may need another type of information than doctors suppose. Patients want to know the diagnosis, prognosis and what caused the illness while doctors are more treatment and medication centered (Pilling 2008).
There are many useful and effective techniques to make communication with parents easier. Using simple words, short sentences and explaining medical jargon constitute the first step in avoiding misunderstandings. Breaking complex information in short statements and providing the most important information first and later focusing on the two or three most important concepts can also be helpful to parents, especially if they have no possibility to take notes. Visual aids like drawings, models and diagrams might facilitate better understanding of biological facts and statistics.
Sometimes language barriers, cultural and personality differences can also influence effectiveness of information transmission. Patients may need another type of information than doctors suppose. Patients want to know the diagnosis, prognosis and what caused the illness while doctors are more treatment and medication centered (Pilling 2008).
Online Resources
- Pilling J. (2008) Orvos-beteg kommunikáció The author present the stages of a medical interview and explain in the detail the task of the several stages.
