While there is an increase in digital and hard skills for healthcare professionals, experts stress soft skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving skills are even more vital to delivering quality care to patients. 

In our last article, we explored the technical &ndash; or hard &ndash; skills
 required for
 <a href="/sites/ccn/blogs/digital-skills-needed-in-healthcare-for-success"
 >healthcare professionals in a digital future</a
 >. Here, we delve into not-so-technical skills that have arguably become even
 more critical to the delivery of quality healthcare. While the term
 &ldquo;soft skills&rdquo; is a common one, it is our belief that the
 competencies and skills we address here are anything but &ldquo;soft.&rdquo;
 On the contrary, these non-technical skills deliver hard results when it comes
 to patient health and outcomes.



 &ldquo;Amid the growing focus on artificial intelligence, automation and
 robotics and the impact these technologies will have on the healthcare
 environment, it is easy to overlook the importance of soft skills,&rdquo; says
 Hank Drummond, PhD, RN, Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at Cross
 Country Healthcare. &ldquo;However, we believe soft skills such as, creative
 thinking, problem solving, analytical skills and critical thinking will become
 even more vital to delivering high quality care.&rdquo;


<h2>In a digital future, soft skills reign supreme.</h2>


 Many futurists and scholars point to a growing importance of soft skills even
 as the future becomes more digitized. In fact, accompanying the adoption of
 advanced technologies into the healthcare workplace will be an increase in the
 need for workers with finely-tuned social and emotional skills &ndash; skills
 that machines are a long way from mastering. According to a recent McKinsey
 report, between 2016 and 2030, demand for social and emotional skills will
 grow across all industries by 26 percent in the United States.1



 The demand for higher cognitive skills &ndash; specifically, complex
 information processing and critical thinking, will grow by 19 percent by 2030
 in the U.S.2 We would argue this assertion is even more true within
 the healthcare environment. After all, healthcare delivery has always been,
 and will always be, centered on the very human patient &ndash; requiring more
 human skills, such as empathy, decision-making and mindful listening.



 &ldquo;Human-centered technologies will no doubt simplify processes and allow
 nurses and medical practitioners to devote more time to the bedside, where
 they can listen to patient stories, build trusted relationships and deliver
 better, more personalized care,&rdquo; says Drummond. &ldquo;So, as we
 continue to embrace new technologies and evolve the digital skills of
 healthcare practitioners, we must also begin using these technologies to
 restore human connections by dedicating more time to critical soft
 skills.&rdquo;



 As we look to the future, there are two crucial cognitive-based competencies
 that cannot be ignored in order to build an effective, capable healthcare
 workforce.


<h2>The Vital Sign We Overlook but Cannot Ignore.</h2>


 In the very near future of healthcare, many of our daily vital signs will be
 monitored and logged using technology tools, including chatbots, wearables,
 home monitoring devices and smart tools. In fact, in 2015 there were about
 15.4 billion connected devices. According to IHS Markit, this number will grow
 to 30.7 billion in 2020 and 75.4 billion by 2025.2 Soon,
 we&rsquo;ll be using smart cups that measure water intake, taking digital
 pills that interact with our phones and sleeping on smart mattresses that
 monitor sleep patterns.



 As our vital signs are more often taken via smart technologies, there is one
 measurement that is too often overlooked but that must become a key skill of
 clinicians in the digital future &ndash; story gathering. According to
 Patricia Liehr, PhD RN, Associate Dean for Nursing Research and Scholarship
 and Schmidt Distinguished Professor at Florida Atlantic University, &ldquo;The
 human story is a health story in the broadest sense. As healthcare continues
 to meld with technology, it becomes even more vital for caregivers to become
 skilled in intentional dialogue between themselves and patients. For the
 stories shared by patients relative to their circumstance is an opportunity
 for caregivers to gather information and data about the health challenge the
 person is experiencing.&rdquo;



 The idea of story is not new to nursing. In fact, nursing&rsquo;s story roots
 date back to Nightingale (1860) who passionately promoted the importance of
 listening to the patient, stating &ldquo;He feels what a convenience it would
 be, if there were any single person to whom he could speak simply and
 openly... to whom he could express his wishes and directions.&rdquo;



 &ldquo;Even though I believe patient storytelling is a vital sign just as
 important as blood pressure, temperature or lab values,&rdquo; Liehr says,
 &ldquo;most caregivers don&rsquo;t actually address it in that way. As a
 result, story evidence gets disregarded when in fact, it is integral to
 quality care.&rdquo;


<h2>Critical Thinking Skills Imperative to Future of Healthcare Delivery.</h2>


 Critical thinking skills have always been important in the caregiving field
 because they are used to prioritize and make key decisions that can save
 lives. However, as the healthcare delivery becomes increasingly complex and
 digitized, an even higher degree of critical thinking and emotional
 intelligence &ndash; the capacity to be aware of, control and express
 one&rsquo;s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously
 and empathetically3 &ndash; will be required.



 &ldquo;In addition to high-level critical thinking skills, healthcare also
 requires nurses and other clinicians to have emotional intelligence or
 EI,&rdquo; says Safiya George, PhD, Dean of
 <a href="https://nursing.fau.edu/"
 >FAU&rsquo;s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing</a
 >. &ldquo;This combination of high-level executive function required for
 critical thinking and the healthy and mature affective cognition required for
 EI is a hallmark of most nursing care and critical for effective healthcare
 delivery.&rdquo;



 While many educational institutions recognize the need to develop critical
 thinking skills alongside practical skills, such as dressing a wound or taking
 vitals, there have been a number of challenges they&rsquo;ve faced. For
 instance, most nursing school programs have limited access to clinical space
 for students to gain bedside experience that would foster critical thinking
 skills. In addition, the stakes for learning how to think critically are
 incredibly high in healthcare, as patient lives are at risk when students are
 practicing on them &ndash; yet, without the learned critical thinking ability,
 nurses are unable to provide quality care.



 However, as the need for critical thinking development increases with
 digitization, the boon of technological advancements is also providing an
 effective solution to these challenges &ndash; simulation, artificial
 intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR).



 Given that applying critical thinking based on what caregivers have learned is
 fundamental, bringing all of the components of a care environment first-hand
 without the risk of patient safety is paramount. Using AI and VR, applications
 can replicate the care environment while eliminating the biggest risk of
 development critical thinking skills. They allow students and practitioners
 the freedom to make the wrong decision and to evaluate what to do next time.



 As practitioners and students seek opportunities to build or enhance the
 critical thinking skills needed for the future, the good news is VR and AI are
 already being used to train medical professionals in greater numbers. In fact,
 one study found that 93% of radiologists trained through VR technology were
 more confident in diagnosing splenic artery aneurysms. Fortunately, current
 predictions state the value of VR in the medical field will grow as much as 30
 times over the next five years alone.3


Sources:

<ol>
 <li>
 McKinsey Global Institute,
 <a
 href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/skill-shift-automation-and-the-future-of-the-workforce"
 >Skill Shift Automation and the Future of the Workforce</a
 >, May 2018
 </li>
 <li>
 IHS Markit,
 <a href="https://ihsmarkit.com/industry/telecommunications.html"
 >https://ihsmarkit.com/industry/telecommunications.html</a
 >
 </li>
 <li>
 TalentSmart,
 <a href="https://www.talentsmart.com/products/emotional-intelligence-2.0/"
 >https://www.talentsmart.com/products/emotional-intelligence-2.0/</a
 >
 </li>
 <li>
 Association for Talent Development,
 <a
 href="https://www.td.org/insights/healthcare-jobs-20-the-future-of-healthcare-and-tech"
 >Healthcare Jobs 2.0: The Future of Healthcare and Tech</a
 >, 2019
 </li>
</ol>

Evolving Skill Sets Required by Medical Practitioners – The Soft(er) Side