BaSS

Soft skills are recognized as essential for dental practitioners, but their integration into dental education is inconsistent. The aim of the project “Exploring, Assessing and Applying SOFT skills in DENTAL University students – DENTA_SOFT” under Erasmus+ program (KA220-HED)was to explore and to assess the use of soft skills teaching initiatives in undergraduate dental education and to clarify the key domains in this field.

The following Dental Schools participated in the implementation of the program: Faculty of Dental Medicine at Medical University – Sofia-Bulgaria, Dental School of Thessaloniki-Aristotle University of Thessaloniki-Greece, Dental School-University of Oviedo-Oviedo-Spain, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Grigore T Popa”-Iasi-Romania, Dental School “Hatay Mustafa Kemal” University- Antakya-Turkey. As part of the implementation of the program, extensive research was conducted on the curricula of the dental schools, for the rate of application of soft skills in them. At the same time, educational training and implementation on soft skills was provided to group of the members of dental school’s staff. Furthermore, in the undergraduate program of dental schools’ group of students were taught and informed in detail about the practical application of soft skills and their importance in dental science. The students were then assessed for their understanding about the significance in soft skills in dental education. As part of the program, a mobile application was developed for the research and evaluation of soft skills in dental education. At regular intervals, the findings were updated and evaluated by the researchers of the dental schools participating in the program.

Most of the students asked to be created in the undergraduate program of their studies, a separate lesson on soft skills. Additionally, the students consider that a specific lesson for the patients’ psychology management in the undergraduate level of their studies will be very helpful.

In conclusion the vast majority of the students realized that they received valuable information about soft skills and how to manage a patient in real time. Through this program training the dental students realized the value and the necessity of soft skills for the management of the patients, the coordination of the dental team, and the effective function of the dental profession.