Fostering Interpersonal Skills in a Healthcare Context: Innovating in Specialized Education for Preceptors and Residents

This professional book reports on the development, implementation, evaluation, and further improvement of an innovative training program for preceptors (tutors) and residents in a specific healthcare context. It draws on key literature in internationally recognized journals and books, uses important legal considerations from the local context, and applies well-established principles from longitudinal and mixed-methods research. It also provides a coherent review of the state-of-the-art of the literature on the matter, outcomes of a three-year project in which research was longitudinally integrated into two training programs―one for preceptors (tutors) and one for residents―as well as lessons learned from this project.

Practitioners and local healthcare providers can learn step-by-step how to work toward truly innovative training programs for their professionals and residents and how to develop a culture based on human professional values as well as continuous quality improvement. Simultaneously, researchers can learn how to integrate research into training programs in order to create better programs and establish a sustainable line of research that responds to social accountability questions of local healthcare providers. Finally, this book helps politicians to acquire an in-depth understanding of what it takes to innovate teaching and training in a healthcare system that has been under tremendous pressure and how funding in near future may be allocated in order to facilitate that innovation and its future.

While this book focuses on a local healthcare context, the training programs and empirical studies around it as presented in the book can be replicated in local healthcare settings anywhere else and can be used to facilitate future inter-institutional collaborations for both training and research.

Dr. Jimmie Leppink obtained degrees in Psychology (M.Sc., 2006, Cum Laude), Law (LLM), and Statistics Education (Ph.D., 2012) from Maastricht University, the Netherlands, and obtained a degree in Statistics (M.Sc., 2012, Magna Cum Laude) from Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. He has worked and published with researchers and professionals in education, psychology, and related fields from all over the world, in different roles at Maastricht University, Hull York Medical School, and the University of York, UK, and Hospital virtual Valdecilla, Spain, and as a visiting researcher at several institutions in Australia and Canada. He has over 160 peer-reviewed publications on a range of topics concerning the social and health sciences, medical and health professions education, assessment of professional competence, social accountability of education providers, training in high-stakes professions, experimental and longitudinal research designs, and statistical methods for all of these and related areas. This book was written during his time at Hospital virtual Valdecilla, and since May of 2024 Jimmie has been working as an independent consultant. 

Elena Rojo is a registered nurse at Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital (HUMV) in Spain. She has extensive clinical experience in various care units at HUMV. Since 2013, she has worked at Virtual Valdecilla Hospital in multiple roles and has served as the Head of the Educational Department since September 2023. In this capacity, she coordinates the design of educational programs based on clinical simulation to foster professional development and drive organizational change in healthcare. Additionally, she is an instructor for the Institute for Medical Simulation of Boston, delivering instructor programs in Spanish across Spain and South America. She completed a Fellowship at the Medstar Institute for Innovation - National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare in Washington D.C., USA. This center is renowned for its expertise in Human Factor Engineering and Cognitive Ergonomics, aiming to enhance user interaction with technology and environments, and optimize healthcare processes.

Dr. Marisol Holanda Peña is a member of the Research Group Neurophysiology in Epilepsy and Neurointensve Care of the Biomedical Research Institute (IDIVAL), Santander. Master`s degree in Direction and Management of Innovation in Health, promoted by Biomedical Research Institute (IDIVAL) and Nebrija University, Madrid.

Dr. Ignacio del Moral is a Consultant Anesthesiologist at the Anesthesia Department of the University Hospital “Marqués de Valdecilla” in Santander, Spain, specialized in ultrasound regional anesthesia for Trauma and Orthopedic surgery. He earned his doctorate “Cum laude” from Cantabria University, Spain. Dr. del Moral served as CEO of Hospital Virtual Valdecilla from 2011 to 2023 and is currently the Director for the Center for Medical Simulation Instructor Training programs in Spanish. A Harvard Research Fellow in Medical Education and Simulation (2009-2010), Dr. del Moral balances his professional duties between clinical work in Trauma and Orthopedic surgery and Medical Education. Since 1997, he has been a pioneer in the simulation field, designing programs for training in crisis resource management and setting new standards for training excellence. Dedicated to mentoring and fostering growth, Dr. del Moral is committed to empowering healthcare leaders worldwide to advance simulation and create learning environments that drive innovation and improve patient care.