LAUSR

The significance of soft skills in reducing errors and improving clinical practice has become increasingly evident. Training in these skills should form an integral part of residency programmes. The specialised training programmes for Health Sciences approved by the National Council of Specialties in Health Sciences were reviewed to evaluate the inclusion of five soft skills: communication, teamwork, leadership, situational awareness, and decision-making. A systematic keyword search was conducted across all programme documents. Most of the training programmes were published in 2006 or 2007 (23 programmes, 39%), with only 3 (5%) published in the last three years. Communication (35 programmes, 59.3%) and teamwork (23 programmes, 39.0%) were the most commonly mentioned skills, followed by decision-making (15 programmes, 25.4%) and leadership (11 programmes, 18.6%). Situational awareness was referenced in just one programme (1.7%). None of the programmes addressed all five skills, and only 4 (6.8%) covered four of them. In contrast, 17 programmes (28.8%) did not include any of the skills. The inclusion of soft skills varies greatly across specialised training programmes. Given their proven importance in clinical practice, it is essential to develop targeted training tools, such as micro-credentials, to certify and enhance competency in these areas.