Softis-Ped – Softskills for Children’s Health Erasmus Project

Project Title

Softis-Ped – Softskills for Children’s Health

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Health and wellbeing; Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal); Open and distance learning

Project Summary

Context
The quality of paediatric services depends on the physicians’ job specific skills involving knowledge and practical abilities (hard skills) and also a series of soft transversal, personality-linked, intellectual skills and meta-skills (i.e. soft skills).
Soft skills are likely to make the difference between the good and excellent pediatric health services, creating an error free, safer, and supportive environment for the pediatric patients and parents.

Objective
The project aims to identify the most important soft skills in the field of pediatrics, match them with the best teaching methods and strategies, and elaborate guidelines and materials for training the pediatricians’ trainers.

Participating organisations
The Softis-Pedproject involved:
– 6 contractual partners including training agencies, universities, and public institutions
– 62 lecturers from 11 different universities
– 187 residents working in the pediatrics sector
– 31 students from 6 different universities
– 26 associated partners including associations, no profit organisations, non-governmental organization, public bodies, universities, research institutes, companies.

The target groups were directly involved in the carrying out of the project activities. The Softis-Ped project had a relevant impact on their needs as, starting from survey directly involving them, it produced training contents and tools to improve the soft-skills they use in their day life activities.

Activity 1) Publication on Pediatrics Soft Skills Needs
The project partners cooperate for the creation of a publication presenting the results of a research activity aimed at analysing the needs and expectations of the three main actors of pediatric health services: pediatricians, pediatric students, pediatric patients and their parents.

Activity 2) Training Package for Pediatricians Professors and Trainers
The project partners created a training package addressed to lecturers and trainers in the field of paediatrics on how to assist pediatric undergraduate and resident students in developing and consolidating their soft skills for improving the quality of pediatric services. The training package has been developed in order to address the needs described in the phase 1 and it contains teaching resources for each identified soft skill and is available on the project portal. The online training courses offers the access to 5 modules:
– Communication with Children
– Communicating with Parents
– Communication in a Multicultural Environment
– Communicating with Peers
– Communicating with Health Care Staff

Activity 3) Joint Staff Training Event
The joint staff training event took place in Tirgu Mures (RO) for 7 days. Through the training, lecturers involved in paediatric education, acquired knowledge, skills and competence to make full use of the project results in order to be able to:
– Transfer soft skills to their students through: emerging technology-based methods, tools and contents such as: podcasts, video tutorials on team-based learning, problem-solving, gamification, etc.
– Foster and optimisation of paediatric education to better meet the specific current and future needs of infants, children and teenagers, medical employers and other stakeholders.

Activity 4) – Training Package for Paediatricians
The project developed a training package addressed to students, residents, medical practitioners in paediatrics on how to learn, develop and consolidate their soft skills for improving the quality of paediatric services. The training package has been developed in order to address the needs identified during the phase 1 and with reference to the teaching concepts developed in the phase 2.
The activity also included the creation of a Multilanguage dictionary of medical terms contains simple definitions for diseases, instruments, medicines, and other health-related items in Arabic, Chinese, English, Italian, German, Romanian, Hungarian and Spanish.

Activity 5 – Multiplier events
The project partners organized events addressed to lecturers, professors, students and paediatric practitioners using non formal education tools aiming at disseminating, promote and foster the use of the project results..

Impact
As far as the impact of the project is concerned, Softis-Ped project provided lecturers, professors, students and paediatric practitioners with the possibility to improve and further develop their soft-skills in order to better cooperate with their colleagues and offer an excellent service to patients and their relatives.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 202704 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITATEA DE MEDICINA, FARMACIE, STIINTE SI TEHNOLOGIE DIN TARGU MURES & Country: RO

Project Partners

• AZIENDA SANITARIA LOCALE TO3
• Hospital Universitario Fundación Alcorcón
• JOVO INTERNET ELO LABORATORIUM EGYESULET
• PIXEL – ASSOCIAZIONE CULTURALE
• LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN