Introduction 

Healthcare professionals or healthcare workers (sometimes abbreviated HCWs) provide healthcare treatment and advice based on their formal training and experience. It includes those who work as nurses, physicians (such as family physicians, internists, obstetricians, psychiatrists, radiologists, and surgeons), physician assistants, registered dietitians, veterinarians, veterinarian technicians, optometrists, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, medical assistants, physical therapists, occupational therapists, dentists, midwives, psychologists, or those who perform allied health services.

Healthcare professionals are in a constant battle against preventing the spread of diseases while also trying to provide the best attainable care for their patients. This can sometimes be a difficult balance to find, but to best achieve this, healthcare professionals must have essential skills that allow them to effectively communicate with other members of the medical team, understand the importance of documentation, and utilize critical thinking to provide the best possible care for their patients. There are a variety of essential skills for a healthcare professional to provide quality care to patients in this blog, we will provide five (5) essential skills for a healthcare professional.

Five Essential Skills

1. Effective communication

As part of this responsibility, health professionals need to be able to take the time to listen to their patients and understand their needs, as well as be able to effectively communicate with other members of the healthcare team. This also includes the ability to effectively communicate with patients, families, and other healthcare professionals. It includes both written and verbal communication. It is also important to be able to communicate with people from a variety of backgrounds, as this can help to ensure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to a patient’s care.

2. Critical Thinking 

Critical thinking is a systematic thought process that questions information and intelligently analyzes, evaluates, and challenges assumptions. It is a way of thinking that does not simply accept information at face value but critically examines it to determine its accuracy, validity, and meaning of the available data. There is a business equation that specifies that a healthcare professional must be able to analyze a set of data to arrive at an objective conclusion. There is a crucial step that needs to be taken before deciding on such a situation, and that is the division of the information into its constituent parts, followed by its evaluation and analysis to help us gain a deeper understanding of it.

3. Leadership Skills

It is important to distinguish between a leader and a manager: a leader is a person that can assess and coordinate the work of a group of healthcare professionals, both clinically and non-clinically, to provide the highest quality of care for their patients. Healthcare leadership can come from any team member, which means that if you hold a supervisory position, as well as a non-supervisory one, you can demonstrate leadership. Having a strong leader on your medical team is important because it ensures that all of them know their respective roles and work together toward reaching a common goal. Leaders use analytical thinking skills to assess complicated situations and develop effective strategies for resolving them.

4. Teamwork Skills

Providing high-quality patient care is a key skill that is considered most important as part of a teamwork strategy. Healthcare professionals must possess both clinical and non-clinical skills to provide high-quality patient care and to work effectively with others. Thus, it encompasses both clinical and non-clinical skills that are integral to teamwork. A team player in healthcare can manage their time effectively, stick to their commitments, and provide consistent quality care. Team players are willing to accept and adapt to changes in an industry that is constantly evolving. In addition to earning respect from others (patients and colleagues), they also earn respect from others.

5. The ability to follow procedural rules

Operating rooms are filled with many things. However, there are a lot of things that take place before and after a procedure. Your patient should be aware of the process and risks of the procedure. As part of procedural skills, you should prepare your patients before the operation, wash their hands, and follow up with them afterward. There are several procedural skills that healthcare professionals must be competent in. These include infection control measures, sterile techniques, and the correct use of personal protective equipment (PPE). In addition to these clinical procedural skills, a healthcare professional must also be able to demonstrate nonclinical procedural skills such as time management and organizational skills. 

References

HCWs With Long COVID Report Doubt, Disbelief from Colleagues”. Medscape. 29 November 2021

Burmeister, Amy (31 August 2022). “Delivery of Modern Healthcare”. freeCE. Retrieved 18 September 2022

World Health Organization, 2006. World Health Report 2006: working together for health. Geneva: WHO