by
Chelsea McSwain, Pharm.D., PGY1 Pharmacy Practice Resident, Holy Cross Hospital
Soft
skills vs. hard skills…what is the difference?
Soft skills are those personal qualities and interpersonal abilities
that are needed to relate to other people and work in groups.1 In
contrast, “hard skills” are those skills that are essential to job function and
can more easily be quantified. For pharmacists
hard skills include filling and checking the accuracy of prescriptions, calculating
doses, and recalling information about drug therapy. The pharmacist’s soft skills would include
communicating effectively, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, time
management, conflict management, cultural awareness, responsibility,
leadership, and work ethic (to name but a few!). These skills, although often under-appreciated,
are essential to a successful career in pharmacy. Unfortunately, these important skills are
frequently overlooked and have been historically de-emphasized in pharmacy
curricula.
A recent
editorial by Dr. Cynthia Boyle in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical
Education (AJPE) titled “Leadership is Not a Soft Skill” discusses the importance of
emphasizing leadership in pharmacy education.2 She argues that
leadership development is a lifelong process – the time and dedication required
to master self-efficacy, self-assessment, reflection, entrepreneurship, and advocacy
does not happen overnight. The importance
of leadership, rooted in the social and administrative sciences, has diminished
in recent years and was placed on the “back burner” relative to the other two
core areas of pharmacy education – clinical and pharmaceutical sciences. Boyle argues that there needs to be more
emphasis on the affective domain as we design and develop pharmacy curricula
and courses.3
The Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy
Education (CAPE) released its revised educational outcomes in 2013. The new CAPE outcomes document addresses feedback
that called for the “inclusion of an affective domain that would address
personal and professional skills, attitudes, and attributes required for the delivery
of patient-centered care.”5 The educational outcomes are centered
around four domains, including 1) foundational knowledge, 2) essentials for
pharmacy practice and patient-centered care, 3) effective approaches to
pharmacy practice and care, and 4) the ability to develop personally and
professionally. The document cites self-awareness, leadership, innovation, entrepreneurship,
and professionalism as key outcomes in this fourth domain.5 These
outcomes have been included in the 2016 American Council for Pharmacy Education
(ACPE) Draft Accreditation Standards, and if accepted, it will be a requirement
for all pharmacy schools and pharmacy educators to ensure that graduates of
Doctor of Pharmacy curricula have achieved them.6 At the American
Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear Clinical Meeting 2013, the proposed
revised PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Accreditation Standards were discussed at a town
hall session. In the draft standards, a
new competency domain was articulated: Professionalism, Leadership, and
Practice Management.7 As a participant in the town meeting, I noted
that many speakers advocated for increased emphasis on these competencies. It makes sense that all three major bodies in
pharmacy education have proposed changes.
With
revised standards on the horizon with a renewed emphasis on “soft skills”,
educators should be aware of the impact that this may have on instructional
design and curriculum development. Boyle
notes that with the addition of these new expectations, we will be exposing a “hidden
curriculum” – skills for which students have not been held directly accountable
will now become major components of the formal curriculum. Students will need
to develop their knowledge and skill through need guided learning opportunities
and teachers will need to develop learning materials. This poses significant challenges — how does
one teach soft skills like leadership, professionalism, and advocacy? Perhaps
it is not the act of teaching such
skills that is the challenge, but a lack of effective evaluation and assessment
tools that pose a problem. Sorenson et
al. piloted an elective course at the University of Minnesota that taught
leadership skills to students.8 They utilized an end-of-course
evaluation and focus groups to evaluate instructional design and student
reactions to the learning experiences. This
may be the key to “evaluating” pharmacy leadership. While it is difficult to objectively assess
another person’s leadership skills, encouraging students to self-assess and
reflect on the core components of leadership may well prove to be a key element
of leadership education.
With the evolution of new standards and a focus on the affective domain, graduates will (hopefully) possess not only the knowledge and clinical skills needed to care for patients but also the soft skills to lead and advocate for change.
With the evolution of new standards and a focus on the affective domain, graduates will (hopefully) possess not only the knowledge and clinical skills needed to care for patients but also the soft skills to lead and advocate for change.
References
- Schulz B. The importance of soft skills: education beyond academic knowledge. NAWA Journal of Language and Communication 2008;146-154.
- Boyle CR, Robinson ET. Leadership is Not a Soft Skill. Am J Pharm Educ. 2013;77(10):Article 209.
- Clark DR. Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains. Accessed February 17, 2014.
- Bradley-Baker LR, Murphy NL. Leadership Development of Student Pharmacists. Am J Pharm Educ. 2013;77(10):Article 219
- Medina MS, Plaza CM, Stowe CD, et al. Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education (CAPE) Educational Outcomes 2013. Am J Pharm Educ. 2013;77(8):Article 162.
- Accreditation Standards and Key Elements for the Professional Program in Pharmacy Leading to the Doctor of Pharmacy Degree [draft]. American Council for Pharmacy Education. 2016; in progress.
- Annotated PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Accreditation Standards Revision Drafts, For Comment and Feedback. American Society of Health System Pharmacists. Dec 2013. Accessed May 10, 2014.
- Sorenson TD, Traynor AP, Janke KK. Instructional Design and Assessment: A Pharmacy Course on Leadership and Leading Change. Am J Pharm Educ. 2009;73(2):Article 23.
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