In this paper we will present results from CoSMed, a project that is concerned with highlighting and measuring occupation-specific competences of medical assistants. We will focus on social competences as one of the three major components next to health-related and administrative-commercial competences.

The importance of social competences in this nature of occupations tends to be widely underestimated (Monnier, Srbeny & Tschöpe, 2014). Incorporating the link between patients and doctors, medical assistants must quickly appraise a sick person’s situation and emotional state, calm down agitated patients, stabilize them in difficult situations, and simultaneously carry out certain procedures that, on top, patients may find unpleasant. At the same time, the occupation calls for good coordination within the practice team composed of different hierarchical levels. These examples make it clear that besides the expected skills in healthcare and business, social competence form a fundamental component of the professional profile of medical assistants. Germany’s training regulation for medical assistants (Verordnung, 2006) enumerates various tasks in patient care and consultation, which especially underscore the importance of these competences. According to the broad educational vision that underpins the vocational education and training (VET) concept, personal and social competences need to be taught, supported and, where possible, assessed (KMK, 2007). However, the visibility and recognition of these competences still seem secondary in this dual apprenticeship.

To raise the attention and recognition of these essential competences, we developed a model of social competences for medical assistants that are composed of three major dimensions: emotion regulation, perspective coordination and communication strategies (Srbeny, Monnier, Dietzen, Tschöpe, 2015). We define emotion regulation as controlling your own emotions internally, even in difficult social situations and, in doing so, being able to respond appropriately externally. This can be done by using different strategies (Gross, 2009). Our definition of perspective coordination draws on development theories by Selman (2003) and Mischo (2003). For this to be implemented adequately, the medical assistant must be able to understand her/his own and the conversation partner’s perspective, emotions and needs, even in difficult situations, and in doing so maintain an overview of the practice requirements and also relate all aspects to one another as constructively as possible. Finally, we defined communication strategies as being evident in the way the medical assistant guides the communication towards a good solution for both parties, even in difficult situations, and can make the conversation partner feel they are being taken seriously and are understood. Doing this, we integrated different theories as for example by Schulz von Thun (2004) or Rosenberg (2006).  

On the basis of this model we developed a situational judgment test (Lievens, Peeters & Schollaert, 2008) that covers the three dimensions of social competences (Dietzen, Tschöpe, Monnier & Srbeny, in press). During the entire development process, we controlled for the evaluation criteria to fulfill the validity standards.

In this paper we offer results from this test together with data on individual and system level. The test was offered to 405 apprentices together with an instrument that asked for the personal background of the apprentices as well as conditions of learning and teaching at school and at work.

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