10 key skills you need as a doctor
As a doctor, you’re responsible for healing people and potentially saving their lives. To succeed in this profession, you need plenty of medical knowledge and skills. But this, unfortunately, is not enough.
Apart from your professional qualifications, you also need certain abilities to perform your duties effectively. In this article, we define all these skills. You will need them all, to be a good doctor. Not easy. But possible.
This article is written mainly from ‘our’ perspective. We have a linked article about the qualities of a good doctor more written from the patient’s perspective.
Here are 10 key skills we feel you need as a doctor.
1. Communication skills
Communication, communication and communication (the ‘3 Cs’). This is the most important skill of all doctors. Full stop. All types.
Why? Strong communication skills facilitate interaction with your patients and colleagues. Most importantly, without them you cannot take a good history. This is the most important part of a medical assessment as it leads to the correct diagnosis (on its own) in 80% of patients. Second full stop.
Not only is this skill vital for making the diagnosis, but it also helps you develop trust, and carry out the treatment plan (with the rest of the team). In addition, good written and verbal communication skills help prevent misdiagnoses and prescribing mistakes.
Top tip. Most mistakes are made through communication errors, emphasising its importance.
Note. Listening is as important as talking and asking questions. Learn to maximise the ‘golden minute’ (first minute of history taking.
Good interpersonal skills
Related to communication, as a doctor you interact with your colleagues on a daily basis. For example, you often need to develop a treatment plan with your colleagues, medical and non-medical. If they don’t like you, you won’t get very far.
Saying thankyou, and using gentle humour when appropriate, are both important.
Apart from communication, interpersonal skills such as empathy, patience, sensitivity and compassion help you interact with patients and colleagues with greater ease.
2. Listen to other views (and don’t judge people)
Be open-minded and above all .. listen. Doctors need to be receptive to other people’s views; especially those of their colleagues and patients. Your colleagues may have valuable information that may help the treatment of your patients.
In addition, patients know their bodies well, and information they give you will help you alot.
Listen to your patient, he is telling you the diagnosis” (William Osler, 1849-1919)
Top tip. Never judge people. The nun is as likely to have syphilis as the prostitute. Maybe not completely true, but you know what we mean.
3. Teamworking
Teamworking is a close third to communication, and listening.
Doctors need strong teamworking skills to collaborate with other medical (and non-medical) professionals. Patients often have more than one doctor or specialist overseeing their case. Because of this, it’s important for doctors to work together with other medical professionals.
Also as a general doctor, you need to interact with laboratory staff to do and interpret blood tests. Depending on the test results, you may need to involve several specialists to assist in the treatment.
When you work well with your colleagues, the teamwork leads to better patient care.
Top tip. If you are a loner and not a team player, forget it. Find another job.
4. Determination – will you finish the job?
As a prospective doctor, you need a high level of determination and perseverance to:
- Complete the educational requirements. You may still be doing exams in your early 30s.
- Complete your working day.
As a doctor, you often face hectic days with little sleep and maximum pressure. You may also have to endure long hours with no breaks. Determination, staying focused and motivated are needed to complete your duties.
Top tip. In this situation, will you finish the job? You will need to, if you are to be an effective doctor.
5. Decision-making skills and decisiveness
Decision-making is a skill that entails analytical and critical thinking, as well as a lateral and problem-solving mindset.
Doctors often have to make life-saving decisions. This often involves coming to a diagnosis analytically, by ruling out other possibilities – and then selecting a solution through critical thinking.
In some cases, you have to make quick decisions to save your patient’s life.
After making decisions, you need to be decisive and follow them through.
Top tip 1. Few cases are ‘classical’, i.e. have every feature the books say they should have. But you still need to decisive even when you are not 100% sure.
Top tip 2. If you are really guessing, you need to ask a more senior colleague to see the patient. It’s not competition. It’s about the team, focusing on the patient.
6. Leadership skills
Strong leadership skills help doctors handle a variety of critical situations – and keep the team together. For example, you can exert your leadership when managing your colleagues during a medical emergency.
As a senior doctor, you also use this skill when providing advice to colleagues, as well as medical students and junior doctors. Your leadership skills help you provide them with the knowledge to aid their learning.
Top tip. Leadership is linked to good decision-making and decisiveness. If you are not decisive, people (patients and colleagues) will not follow you as a leader.
7. Professionalism
As a doctor, it’s important to remain 100% professional with your patients and colleagues. For example, it’s important to respect your patient’s privacy by not disclosing their medical information for anything other than their treatment – and only to people that need to know.
Such professionalism leads to trust. And your patients and colleagues must (must) trust you. You must tell the truth at all times.
Values such as integrity and discipline indicate your professionalism, and help make you better at your job.
Top tip. Don’t slag off your colleagues or employer in writing. It won’t go well.
8. Time and diary management skills
Time management skills are required by doctors daily. For example, during an emergency, your quick thinking may lead to effective last-minute decisions.
You will often be interrupted by nurses and others. You need to deal with this issue politely but firmly, and stay on track.
During surgery, you need to stick to a set timeline to prevent complications for patients under anaesthesia.
Top tip. Keep a diary. Ultimately, knowing how to manage your time as a doctor will lead to better patient outcomes.
Attention to detail and organisational skills – help you finish the job (again, with determination)
Doctors need attention to detail. When performing surgery, it’s important to pay attention to what you’re doing to avoid further complications.
Outside of surgery, all need this skill to analyse test results. Ultimately, your attention to detail helps you provide your patients with the best treatment.
Doctors use their organisational skills to manage multiple patients per day. Not only do you need to analyse each patient’s data and create complex daily work plans, but you also need to prioritise your more serious cases.
In addition, emergency situations may arise that require flexibility regarding your workday.
Top tip. You need to learn how to prioritise jobs in your diary. Knowing how to organise your day and prioritise your patients will help you complete all your responsibilities.
9. Technical skills
Doctors need a variety of technical skills to help them diagnose and cure a patient. Unlike soft skills that you can transfer to any career, technical skills refer to your ability to perform practical tasks in a certain field.
Some of the technical skills all doctors need include prescribing medication correctly, interpreting data and administering treatment.
Top tip 1. Whilst surgeons need special technical skills, all doctors need expertise in interpreting vital signs, laboratory, pathology and radiology results
Top tip 2. All good doctors need to be good pharmacologists.
10. Passion (for medicine) and compassion and care (for the patients)
If you’re interested in becoming a doctor, you need a strong passion and curiosity for medicine. That may seem obvious. But having a genuine interest in your work is essential for a long career. Why? It is hard work.
In addition, genuine compassion and caring for the patient is vital.
Top tip 1. You actually need to enjoy ward rounds, clinics, procedure or operating lists (or whatever is the core of your type of medicine). If not, you will struggle. As you cannot get good at something unless you genuinely enjoy it. Do you? Really enjoy it?
Top tip 2. There are several key support roles (e.g. radiology and pathology) for those of you who don’t find they have oodles of compassion every day. Medicine is a broad church. These roles are important, as they often clinch the diagnosis.
Other skills
Risk-taking and (calculated) gambling
Doctors often need to take necessary risks in their career to save lives. For example, you may have to administer a quick treatment plan to save your patient’s life despite not having a diagnosis.
Because of this, it’s important to be willing to make risky decisions based on your knowledge and experience.
Summary
We have described 10 key skills you need as a doctor. We hope it has been helpful.
Other resource
