Sonolência diurna e habilidades sociais em estudantes de medicina

The practice of medicine requires social skills enabling a doctor to develop empathy, communication skills, critical thinking, leadership skills and the ability to make a decision. Our objective was to evaluate medical students' social skills and the latter's relationship with daytime sleepiness. Students (n=180) responded to the Del Prette & Del Prette Social Skills Questionnaire and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. We observed that scores for social skills did not differ according to the student's current year of their medical course and that 47.3% of students presented low scores indicating the need for developing these skills. Women were more able to control aggressiveness. 50% of students recorded pathological scores for daytime sleepiness and this was associated with lower scores for social skills,, especially concerning exposure to strangers or new situations.