Doctors Learn How to Operate on their Personal Public Relations

Doctors save lives, and we need them. And you want a doctor who’s gotten the right medical training. I mean, who wants someone to operate on you and not know their stuff?

Well there’s another thing that they’re teaching in medical schools, according to the New York Times article “New for Aspiring Doctors, the People Skills Test”: people skills.

Finally! The article talks about a “multiple mini interview” at various medical schools, including Virginia Tech Carilion. When they’re looking at medical school candidates, they assess the usual: grades, test scores, and interview each person. But they also make sure the candidates have social skills, so they have them do a kind of speed-interviewing, where they go to several rooms to deal with “ethical conundrums” so that the interviewers can determine how well they listen, speak, and communicate with people.

This just shows the obvious: communication skills are important, no matter where you are, even if you have all the professional skills that are needed to do a job well. There are plenty of talented doctors, but not all of them know how how to listen to a patient or communicate important information.

This could be the start of something big in the medical profession, and could maybe spread to other professions where people haven’t considered the importance of interpersonal communication. After all, PR applies to everyone.