As the healthcare climate continues to change, the demand for nurses with strong clinical skills and an effective bedside manner grows. Unfortunately, some nursing programs place an insufficient emphasis on developing soft skills alongside clinical judgment, technical expertise, and other traditional core competencies. Not only does this leave new nurses unprepared for the complexity of the healthcare field, but it also negatively impacts our profession as a whole.

Soft skills encompass a wide range of qualities such as communication, empathy, teamwork, leadership, critical thinking, and cultural humility. In essence, the traits that make up the art of nursing. Clinical proficiency is essential for providing safe and prudent care, but soft skills are equally as vital. They allow us to foster collaboration among teams, build trusting relationships, and deliver high-quality, patient-centered care. Solid clinical knowledge alone brings little value if we don’t have the interpersonal skills to discern a patient’s goals of care and nurture a collaborative and informed decision-making process.

It’s easy for soft skills to get lost in the mix during school. Students need to memorize pharmacological side effects, understand pathophysiology, and participate in clinical rotations. Additionally, schools have no incentive to focus on soft skills since they’re not tested for when pursuing licensure. However, it may be time to reassess our goals. Should we prioritize assessing memorization and regurgitation of facts in school and in licensure? Or should we include an assessment of soft skills and, as an example, provide more resources and tools similar to the real world?

Technology continues to increase the number of tools that nurses have at their disposal. Outside of emergent situations, nurses can pull up a policy to review with just the click of a button. Technology will continue to provide safeguards and easy access to information. Although it would be unwise to argue that we should rely solely on technology for safety, it can be argued that soft skills will become even more important as technology continues to expand and support our clinical decision making.

To address the deficit of soft skills in nursing school, proactive measures can be taken at both the institutional and individual level. Across institutions we can discuss and propose strategies for bridging this gap to cultivate well-rounded and compassionate nurses. Programs should consider integrating an assessment of soft skills during recruiting, as well as the application process. Coursework can include increased emphasis on simulation exercises, situational awareness, and experiential learning opportunities that focus on developing interpersonal know-how. Faculty members can continue to serve as role models and mentors, while focusing on coaching students in effective communication techniques, conflict resolution, and cultural sensitivity.

Individual nursing students can take initiative in honing their soft skills by seeking self-directed learning opportunities, participating in extracurricular activities, and purposefully eliciting feedback on their bedside manner from preceptors alongside clinical feedback. They also can advocate within their institutions, showing that honing soft skills can help ease the transition to practice, reduce medical errors, deescalate high-tension situations, and leave new nurses feeling more confident in providing care.

The value of soft skills extends far beyond new nurses and direct patient care. We know that nurses are leaving the bedside due to under-addressed systemic issues such as unsafe staffing ratios, inadequate mental health support, and wages that don’t reflect their experience or value. Nurses with a solid foundation in soft skills can more readily advocate for systemic change within our institutions and our profession as a whole. These systems level leaders are imperative in not only expanding access to care and working toward health equity, but in advocating for the future of nursing.

Although nursing by default is a path of lifetime learning, failing to address soft skills before entering practice is a disservice. Beyond direct patient care, nurses also must be able to effectively advocate for ourselves, our colleagues, our profession, and the health of our communities. It’s through soft skills that nurses can continue to address disparities across the board.

Lewey Lee, BSN, RN is the founder of Clinical Made Clear in Portland, OR.

Reference

Jamaludin TSS, Nurumal MS, Ahmad N, Muhammad SAN, Chan CM. Soft skill elements in structured clinical nursing assessment for undergraduate nursing students: A systematic review. Enfermería Clínica. 2021;31(suppl 2):S58-62. doi:10.1016/j.enfcli.2020.10.019.