Soft Skills and Surgical Trainees

Abstract

Surgical trainees are often burdened with acquiring 'hard' skills such as suturing a wound, draining an abscess, placing a central line, and so on. The other personality traits, such as communication, troubleshooting, timekeeping, team management, critical thinking, and professionalism - together called ‘soft-skills’ - mandatory for effectual work output, get sidelined.  Soft-skills are innate and precede hard cognitive skills. They should be learned early to survive and succeed in personal, professional and social life. They contribute to 75% of long-term success, while only 25% is due to technical skills. Crucial soft skills are specialty-specific, linked to patient outcomes, engaging multidisciplinary teams, and improving job satisfaction in the demanding field of medicine.