Health Science Lesson Plans: Teaching Soft Skills Matters

Teaching soft skills needs to be an important part of your health science lesson plans.

I dread anytime I have to step foot in a medical facility. The whole process from scheduling the appointment to the actual visit causes me an incredible amount of anxiety. Over the years I’ve learned to manage it, but I’m still very hypersensitive, especially to the office staff. I once insisted my husband go with me to a routine check-up because when I scheduled my appointment “the office assistant was mean.” True story.

White Coat Syndrome

According to WebMD, as much as 20% of the population suffers from “white coat syndrome.” TWENTY percent! Of course, the most distressing part is that this fear and anxiety is preventing people from getting the preventative care that they need. If these people, like me, do manage to seek health care, how do they ultimately feel about their experience?

Just this last week I had a medical assistant taking my vitals and I was sure that her mannerisms suggested she had more important things to do than to remove the blood pressure cuff the she had left hanging on my arm. Later that day I found myself thinking about how over the years so many educators have given us feedback about how difficult it is to teach these types of soft skills in their classroom.

How do your health science lesson plans help students understand how their communication skills directly impact patient care?

The whole experience got me very excited about a project moving its way through the AES Development Team.  We’re working on incorporating nine Communication Exercise videos into the HealthCenter21 curriculum. These lessons address communication soft skills through a series of videos and thought provoking questions. In these exercises, the students can watch first-hand the effects their words and body language have on their patients and co-workers, both the positive and negative. What a simple, yet effective way to include more soft skills in your health science lesson plans.

I’m curious- how do you address soft skills in your health science lesson plans? Please join our community and share in the comment section below!

Download your Free PowerPoint lesson on the History of Health Care now and start using in your classroom today!