Clinical & Experimental Cardiology
Open Access

Training and soft skills of the cardiologist in the 21st century

Emilio Augusto Rosario Pacahuala^* and Aldo Rafael Medina Gamero ^*Correspondence: Emilio Augusto Rosario Pacahuala, Department of Humanities, Universidad Privada del Norte, Lima, Peru, Email:

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Introduction

What are soft skills? They are those social skills that allow a person to relate appropriately with others because they put into practice different activities such as teamwork, empathy and all this leads to obtaining effective results. If we associate them with emotional intelligence, they enable an adequate management of emotions in interaction with others. They even contribute to good performance and to the resolution of conflictive situations that may exist [1-4].

It is important to note that, as well as tolerance and patience, health personnel must also have soft skills as one of the necessary competencies for the development of their professional activity. And more now in this context it is vitally important to know how to deal with staff and handle situations in critical moments, among other conflicts that may occur as part of interpersonal relationships such as problem solving, assertive communication, stress management, leadership, teamwork, among others.

The reason why the development of soft skills is necessary is due to the day-to-day challenges that are presented to health personnel in patient care, as well as to collaborators who are part of the Hospital or Health Center team. What caused the shift in importance between hard skills and soft skills?

Literature Review

The new trend in professional training considers social skills as one of the basic competencies of future doctors, especially future cardiologists. Therefore, some study plans must be reformulated. University authorities must allow the restructuring of syllables and begin with the implementation of elective courses to generate a dynamic in which technical knowledge (hard skills), communication and active listening are combined. All this with the purpose of managing a methodology in which the opinion of the student and the patient help to improve decision-making [5,6].

But who should decide what skills and/or competencies the future professional or specialist should have? Apparently, over the years it has been a vertical and one-sided decision, and I dare say that perhaps without considering a modern approach [7].

In this sense, it is valid to follow the following recommendations for proper exercise by health professionals and specialists. First, effective communication, because it allows an approach with the patient, family member and collaborator, generating empathy, which will allow a quick diagnosis and response to a problem. Second, tolerance and patience, which is related to the role of a leader, because the specialist and the future health professional can assume functions in a work team, then they must generate a transformative leadership that helps to find a solution and decision in critical moments. Third, the management of frustration, in daily contexts or situations, for example, work in remote places without basic services, language, different dialects, among others, which can cause discomfort or dissatisfaction in the health professional. Therefore, you must be resilient and properly manage time, without losing motivation. Fourth, the vocation of service, where you must be prepared to deal with adverse situations and sometimes with work environments that cause stress, including burnout syndrome. That is why you must be prepared to serve with empathy and care a public that lives with different realities and economic needs, especially those who suffer from a disease or have a family member in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Fifth, assertiveness, especially in teleconsultations because clear and effective communication with your patients is required. To this is added the management of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), such as the use of video calls through Jitsi Meet, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc., which allows a visual co-presence (visual and auditory contact) between the patient-doctor, likewise, applications, such as Padlet, Stormboard, Loom etc., [8,9]. Finally, control and management of emotions because emotional intelligence is of utmost importance to have adequate mental health in changing contexts, such as uncertainty, depression, gender violence, confinement, quarantines imposed by the different product governments of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the other hand, medical care that is carried out through telemedicine is the alternative that allows diagnosing a patient without the need for direct physical contact between the patient- professional. However, for this type of care to be effective it is necessary to establish a cordial relationship with the patient who performs the teleconsultation. Hence the importance of soft skills, for all these reasons, the current world of work requires professionals who have the double hard skills/soft skills, the same that must be worked from the school stage and with greater intensity in the university and more now that we are facing a new "normality" in the that the specialist should be empathetic, guiding, since adequate care facilitates the diagnosis and self-care of the patient [10,11].

Discussion

Cardiologists in particular must have certain soft skills that must be developed in order to provide quality service. For this reason, we recommend time management, insofar as it can balance your personal and work life. It is important because it will allow you to perform efficiently in your workplace. Another important factor is that the human resources area must constantly worry that its staff does not have work overload.

A second skill to consider is stress management. The world is changing and the demands to show a better service and successful results of their medical practice cannot become an element that contributes to stress or causes somatic problems for the cardiologist [12]. To avoid this, the specialist must have activities that allow channeling these emotional charges that can be contrary and affect the physical or mental health of the doctor as well as the patients themselves.

A third skill that must be practiced not only by the cardiologist, but by all the personnel within the Health Center are communication skills. One of the elements that allows to minimize any problem among the work members, but more important is to develop it in the patients, who given the situation of concern and expectation not only want to find some word of encouragement, but also precise and direct information about the problems that suffers and the solution you need to overcome your health problems. Let us remember that communication must not only ensure that it is simple in language, it must also take into account the cultural environment from which the patient comes. Other factors that must be taken into account are the level of education, nationality, religious beliefs, among others that we may be overlooking and that do not facilitate fluid and effective communication, nor do they contribute to good medical follow-up [13]. A second problem that could arise is the bad image that can be created of the cardiologist, for this reason it is suggested that a cordial relationship be established between doctor-patient, in such a way that the necessary information is hard for a correct diagnosis. We consider anthropological studies fundamental in the formative stage of a doctor because they will allow the person to become aware of the various cultural expressions in different countries [14].

The medical area not only has the interest of treating the improvement of the patient, but of managing the way in which the messages should be transmitted, in this way it must cultivate emotional intelligence, which consists of controlling feelings in the face of various adversities [15]. The cardiology area has to face the emotional state of patients on a daily basis, for example, explaining problems that can alter their rhythm of life. Providing that information not only has to be effective, we must also understand the state that the patient may be in, perhaps of frustration, concern and grief for himself. On the other hand, they should not be totally involved with the patient's situation, as this can cloud their opinion and can even provide a diagnosis where the person is prioritized and not their physical well-being [16,17].

Finally, another element that can be cultivated within a health professional is the narrative. Let us understand the ability of the health professional who can share with his colleagues and students his experiences of success and even the way in which he surpassed them. In this way, by his example, he will be able to inspire others to overcome adverse situations as he overcame them.

Conclusion

In short, we must understand that, within the medical curriculum, there is still a lack of subjects that provide students with the tools they need for their future performance. It would also be necessary to implement cycles of talks or conferences aimed at practicing doctors so that they improve the service, their image as professionals and project the trust and empathy that their patients need.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Financial Disclosures

The authors declare that they have no Financial disclosures associated with this study.

Acknowledgement

The authors thank the patients whose data were used in this study. The author thank Dr. Aldo Rafael Medina Gamero, from Private University of the North, Peru for their help during the case and review of this manuscript.

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