New Delhi, December 6: The Faculty of Dentistry, Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) organized a workshop on ‘Soft Skills in Dental Practice’ on 6th December 2023. Eighty BDS Interns of Batches of 2018 & 2019, Faculty of Dentistry, JMI, attended the programme.
The workshop was conducted by two eminent resource persons, Prof. Loomba and Prof. Saxena. Both are FAIMER (Foundation For Advancement of International Medical Education and Research), Fellows from CMC Ludhiana and are actively involved in medical education. Dr. Poonam Sood Loomba is the Director Professor and Head, Microbiology Department, G. B Pant institute and National Medical Commission Convenor for the Regional Centre, Medical Education Department, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi. Dr. Sonal Saxena is the Director Professor and Head, Microbiology Department, Maulana Azad Medical college, New Delhi and Faculty at Medical Education Unit in Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi.
The program commenced with an orientation lecture by Prof. Poonam Sood Loomba to make the participants aware about soft skills. She highlighted the importance and relevance of soft skills in the dental profession. Mentioning about verbal and non- verbal communication she emphasized on the aspect of active listening in length and taking informed consents, in a bilingual format.
In the inaugural session, Prof. Keya Sircar, Dean, Faculty of Dentistry welcomed the gathering and emphasized on the need of soft skills in dental practice. The Organizing Chairperson, Prof Ashu Bhardwaj, introduced the topic, by giving a brief history of soft skills. She made the audience aware about the origin of the term 'soft skills' in the U.S Army in late 1960’s when apart from technical know-how, leadership values and emotional intelligence were realised as important adjunct to motivate soldiers.The felicitation of resource persons was followed by a vote of thanks by the Organising Secretary, Prof. Zeba Jafri.
The workshop was conducted in two sessions by both the resource persons through role plays of six clinical case scenarios. The importance of taking informed consent, communicating well to the patient, dealing in empathetic manner were all part of the learning process through the role plays during this workshop.
The resource persons interacted with the groups after the role plays, highlighting the various modules of counselling, breaking bad news etc.The role plays were followed by Theatre of the Oppressed, where the participants in the audience stepped into the role play offering different perspectives and solutions to the situation.
The interns actively participated in the role plays and the resource persons were highly impressed with the acting skills of the students.
The event was meticulously organized by Prof. Ashu Bhardwaj, Prof. Anuradha Sharma, Prof. Madhuri A Sawai, Prof. Zeba Jafri, Prof. Nishat Sultan and Prof. Kirti Chawla under the patronship of the Dean, Faculty of Dentistry, JMI, Prof. Keya Sircar.