The tutor with a good teaching attitude: is He/Shi born or made? What makes the difference between a successful and a failed Trainer?

Reflections from a personal and professional experience, build up from the daily work with tutors.

Abstract

From a teaching professional experience and constructive reflection, this review article and opinion aims to portray content to the figure of the resident tutor within the Spanish specialized health training system. And become a help to those tutors who want to improve as educators. Initially, some aspects related to the tutors teaching motivation are revised. Next, some competences or characteristics that, according to tutors, residents and other academic staff, are present in all tutors who exhibit a good teaching attitude, are described, along with the behavior patterns that demonstrate them. On the bases that a good teaching attitude can be built up and focusing our interest in the upstanding tutors, some fundamental aspects concerning the educational process developed by successful educational trainers are detailed and discussed. Finally, some indicators that can be applied to identify these successful tutors are briefly commented.