Awareness of Dental Personnel of Two Dental Colleges in A.P, on the Role of Soft Skills in Dentistry- A Survey

Abstract

Introduction: Dental curriculum concentrated on hard skills which include theoretical and clinical knowledge only. Today the world realized the need for extra skills to have a competitive edge, which includes soft skills. They improve the performance and productivity. No dental teaching in India teaches soft skills to their under graduate students. To attain those skills one has to attend some extra training or course. Aims/Objectives: There are very few documented studies are available on the role of soft skills in dentistry. The present study was undertaken to assess the awareness of the knowledge, attitude and behaviour of dental personnel in 2 teaching dental institutes in Andhra Pradesh, towards role of Soft skills in Dentistry. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted. Over a period 4 months from Oct 2016 to Jan 2017. A pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was given to a total of 431 dental personnel includes faculty, post graduate students, interns and undergraduate clinical students (both 3rd & 4th B.D.S). Statistics was analysed by SPSS software 19 version. Frequencies and percentages were calculated. Results: The survey forms were distributed in two dental teaching institutes to a total of 407 dental personnel, including 43 faculty, 83 post graduate students, 132 interns and 149 under graduate clinical students( 3rd & 4th BDS). Statistical analysis is done by SPSS software. Majority of the dental personnel were aware of hard skills but only few are really knows about soft skills. Conclusion: Due to the scientific nature of the curriculum, the technical skills are more focused in Dentistry. Many of the dental personnel’s including faculty not aware of the soft skills. All the dental teaching institutes need to incorporate the soft skills in their under graduate teaching curriculum. Regularly all the dental personnel need to attend some soft skills training.