Soft skills for the doctors by dr manishankar chakraborty @ Tripura Medical College, Hapania, Tripura, India

1. Dr. Manishankar Chakraborty,
PhD; MBA
International Management Trainer, Consultant,
Faculty, Freelancing Journalist and Social Media
Specialist

2.  Food for Thought
 Rationale and Background
 Product Vs. Service
 What is Soft Skill
 Why doctors need soft skills
 Breaking the Myth
 Cases for brainstorming
 Few important Soft Skills in the
Healthcare sector
 Debate-Soft skills can be learnt or
acquired
 Essentials for acquiring soft skills
 Profile
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Dr. Manishankar Chakraborty, PhD;MBA

3. “A good
physician
treats the
disease, while
a great
physician
treats the
patient who
has the
disease”-
William Osler.
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Dr. Manishankar Chakraborty, PhD;MBA

4.  Customer-(Patient )is the
undisputed “king”.
 Competition-(Rival doctors and
hospitals) is “cut-throat”.
 Legal regulations(Criminal cases
due to negligence) are “stringent”.
 Stakeholders(Society, Government)
are “aware” about their rights
more than their duties!
 Other than electronic and print
media, social media makes
happening-good or bad, “viral” in
no time.
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Dr. Manishankar Chakraborty, PhD;MBA

5.  Services are an absolute essential
in everything, including product
 Intangibility
 Perishability
 Lack of Physical Evidence as a
takeaway in most cases
 Human element(Doctors) forming
the crux, machines only as enabler
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Dr. Manishankar Chakraborty, PhD;MBA

6.  Skills can be HARD and SOFT.
 E.g. A doctor has skills related to
his specialization, viz. medicine,
surgery, community medicine,
forensic medicine etc.
 E.g. A doctor also need to have
skills pertaining to etiquette,
empathy, perseverance to name a
few.
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Dr. Manishankar Chakraborty, PhD;MBA

7.  Dealing with ailing humans
 Dealing with disturbed
acquaintances of humans
 Doctors are given “demi-god”
status in India
 Profession is synonymous with
social services
 Challenging working environment
owing to distress, sufferings among
the end-users
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Dr. Manishankar Chakraborty, PhD;MBA

8.  Respect at times metamorphoses
into Ego
 Empathy is often substituted with
sympathy
 Covering up on errors and
cascading effect
 Relationship management with
major stakeholders challenging
 Patient ignorance is no more a bliss
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Dr. Manishankar Chakraborty, PhD;MBA

9.  (1)Doctor/Nurse is unresponsive to
the queries of patients dependents
 (2)Unethical practices in terms of
prescription of expensive brands of
molecules where cheaper options
are available
 (3)Doctors are extremely difficult
to approach compelling someone
to comment, “God is easier to
access than a Doctor”
 (4)Irritating and ignoring syndrome
depicted in doctor-patient
conversation
 (5)Changing of doctors shift and
improper handing and taking over
of information of patients
 (6)”I know everything” and “I don’t
care attitude” with patients,
relatives, paramedics
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Dr. Manishankar Chakraborty, PhD;MBA

10.  Empathy
 Communication-Verbal, Non-
verbal, Written, Virtual
 Listen and not hear
 Smile, but not laugh and mock
 Behavior
 Mannerisms
 Attitude
 Teamwork
 Relationship Management
 Techno-savvy
 Time management
 Staying updated
 Expectations management
 Foresightedness /Pro-activeness
 Ability to manage contingencies
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Dr. Manishankar Chakraborty, PhD;MBA

11. Yes?
No?
Reasons ?
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Dr. Manishankar Chakraborty, PhD;MBA

12.  Attitude to learn, unlearn and
relearn
 Flexibility in approach
 Working for self rather than
institution
 Learning for life
 Ability to develop peer
observation and peer learning
 Networking skills and personal
benchmarking
 Healthy competitive spirit
 Imbibing personal best practices
into professional realm
 Ethical behavior and strong work
ethics
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Dr. Manishankar Chakraborty, PhD;MBA

13.  PhD-General Management; MBA-
Marketing and Human Resource
Management
 15 years of experience in Industry,
Academia, Training and Consulting in
Sultanate of Oman, United Arab Emirates,
Jordan, India
 Over 1000 articles in Indian Express,
Times of India, Tripura Observer, Tripura
Times, Hitavada, Happening Nagpur,
Times of Oman, Gulf News, to name a few.
 Community service through Knowledge
Oman and Tripura Foundation.
 Over 20 research papers in leading
International Journals.
 Manages various social media platforms
for Knowledge Sharing, Teaching and
Learning.
 Blogs
www.manishankarscribbles.wordpress.co
m
www.manishankarthetrainer.blogspot.co
m Micro-blog
www.twitter.com/manitwitts , Facebook
page www.facebook.com/DrManisPage
and many more.
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Dr. Manishankar Chakraborty, PhD;MBA

14.  A softer man always wins the heart
of everyone, which a man with an
hard approach cannot.
 Thank-you for your patient hearing
and I sincerely hope your patience
will benefit your patients
henceforth.
 Contact details-
 emailmanishankar@gmail.com
+919422167579
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Dr. Manishankar Chakraborty, PhD;MBA