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
2.3.1 Patience and listening. Shared attention (multitasking)
Listening well is an essential part of communication. This requires the provision of adequate time and patience, and the willingness to listen to parents’ concern. A quiet room, lack of interruptions, provision of chairs for the parents, sitting at an appropriate distance, good eye contact, etc., are helpful to enhance listening and learning from the parents.
The Softis-ped questionnaire found that pediatricians’ listening skills are good. However, according to Pilling (2008) a lot of physicians tend to interrupt patients after listening to the symptoms for only 18 seconds because they have only a very limited time to spend with patients. Later, they may lead the entire conversation in a way that the patients will never be able to finish their sentences. Consequently, this often leads to an incomplete description of the child’s problems with more than half (54%) of the total symptoms remaining hidden or untold. In case of primary paediatric care this time might be even shorter and more information might be missed as doctors must communicate with two persons instead of only one. Although in case of younger children it is the parent who is more trusted by physicians in terms of providing the correct information about symptoms, the child cannot be ignored during the visit either. Listening to patients doesn’t require that much time doctors suppose: most patients finish their first sentences without interruption in 60 seconds and none of them required more than 150 seconds not even when encouraged to do so.
Doctors also tend to overestimate the importance of the symptom mentioned first and interrupt the patient right after the first symptom was told. Patients are often unable to decide which symptom is the most significant and often the order in which they are presenting them has nothing to do with the clinical importance of the given symptom. During control check-ups and appointments most physicians resume the conversation where the previous one ended, continuing the last topic of the previous visit and skipping all the introductory questions.
Most of the times patients have no possibility to ask questions related to the doctor’s explanation as 75% of physicians don’t give the opportunity to patients to ask more questions. Besides the limited time a doctor can spend with one patient there are also some practicing physicians who don’t like being questioned. 76% of patients still have concrete questions after the visit is finished or they left the PCP’s office. Without giving enough information, patients might even fail to recognize the good intentions of a doctor. If trust is broken, drug compliance will be worse and patients won’t follow doctor’s instructions. Patients who are more satisfied with their physicians are more likely to adhere to treatment recommendations and that physicians who are more skilled in the emotional domain of patient interaction are likely to have more satisfied patients. (Pilling 2008)
The Softis-ped questionnaire found that pediatricians’ listening skills are good. However, according to Pilling (2008) a lot of physicians tend to interrupt patients after listening to the symptoms for only 18 seconds because they have only a very limited time to spend with patients. Later, they may lead the entire conversation in a way that the patients will never be able to finish their sentences. Consequently, this often leads to an incomplete description of the child’s problems with more than half (54%) of the total symptoms remaining hidden or untold. In case of primary paediatric care this time might be even shorter and more information might be missed as doctors must communicate with two persons instead of only one. Although in case of younger children it is the parent who is more trusted by physicians in terms of providing the correct information about symptoms, the child cannot be ignored during the visit either. Listening to patients doesn’t require that much time doctors suppose: most patients finish their first sentences without interruption in 60 seconds and none of them required more than 150 seconds not even when encouraged to do so.
Doctors also tend to overestimate the importance of the symptom mentioned first and interrupt the patient right after the first symptom was told. Patients are often unable to decide which symptom is the most significant and often the order in which they are presenting them has nothing to do with the clinical importance of the given symptom. During control check-ups and appointments most physicians resume the conversation where the previous one ended, continuing the last topic of the previous visit and skipping all the introductory questions.
Most of the times patients have no possibility to ask questions related to the doctor’s explanation as 75% of physicians don’t give the opportunity to patients to ask more questions. Besides the limited time a doctor can spend with one patient there are also some practicing physicians who don’t like being questioned. 76% of patients still have concrete questions after the visit is finished or they left the PCP’s office. Without giving enough information, patients might even fail to recognize the good intentions of a doctor. If trust is broken, drug compliance will be worse and patients won’t follow doctor’s instructions. Patients who are more satisfied with their physicians are more likely to adhere to treatment recommendations and that physicians who are more skilled in the emotional domain of patient interaction are likely to have more satisfied patients. (Pilling 2008)
Online Resources
- Pilling J. (2008) Orvos-beteg kommunikációThe author present the stages of a medical interview and explain in the detail the task of the several stages.
