Two students practice with the radiodiagnostic imaging machines at the Vall d’Hebron Vocational Training Institute.Kike Rincon
The imposing modernist building of the Vall d’Hebron institute that stands next to the Ronda de Dalt in Barcelona, and which had initially been an orphanage, opens a new stage and a renovation this year, both in its interior and in the training offer. This September, the institute has become a center specialized in training cycles in the healthcare field, and is part of the triad formed together with the Hospital del Mar institute and a third, which will be linked to Sant Pau and which is expected to open its doors next year. .
The VET centers in Barcelona have been undergoing major restructuring in recent years, with the aim of concentrating studies in the same sector in specific institutes, and separating them from ESO. One of the families that will emerge most strengthened is the health sector.
The one in Vall d’Hebron opens with around 900 students in the dozen training cycles it offers. The director of the center, Ester Giró, says that they have signed agreements with the Vall d’Hebron hospital, but also with Pere Virgili and Sant Rafael, but not only for students to carry out internships, as has happened until now. Educational and health centers have signed an agreement that strengthens the relationship and in which both obtain an important benefit.
On the one hand, the institute benefits from obsolete materials from hospitals, which they will give away so that they can be reused by students; but also specialized health personnel, who can act as teachers for very specific areas. The proximity also allows students to visit facilities that they cannot find at the institute, such as the dialysis service.
But if training benefits, hospitals also benefit as future job destinations. Marisa Banyuls, clinical practice coordinator at Vall Hebron Hospital, assures that until now they had already signed agreements with several vocational training institutes, but now having a reference training center allows us to reduce the number of interlocutors, which speeds up communication. “Healthcare technicians have very short training, so with these alliances we ensure that they are as well trained as possible and that they carry out internships in a real environment, such as the hospital,” says Banyuls.
One of the main advantages is that they model future professionals according to the needs of the job. “Hospitals sometimes ask us for very specific profiles, and here we can train students with these specificities, but we can also select graduates. Because working in a hospital is not the same as working in a nursing home. And not everyone is prepared to work in the ICU, so we look for the profile that best fits,” says Giró.
In a few months a new institute will follow the same path (at the moment it is not clear what it will be) that will also specialize in health issues and will be linked to the Sant Pau Hospital. Carmen Moreno, laboratory supervisor at this center, explains that they have already signed agreements with several institutes inside and outside Barcelona for vocational training students to do internships at their facilities. But starting next year, if the schedule is met, the idea is that they will only have the new institute as interlocutor. “This will improve management and simplify it, because now it is really complicated to fit the schedules of the different students and the internships,” Moreno values.
Sant Pau also highlights the possibility of adjusting the theoretical part with the practices as a positive fact. “Sometimes students arrive to do internships at a service without having taken a specific subject, so from now on we will be able to coordinate the theoretical subjects with the more practical part,” says Moreno.
The medical emergencies teacher prepares the ambulance simulation room at the Vall d’Hebron Vocational Training Institute.Kike Rincon
Half a century linked
The predecessor of these two centers is the Hospital del Mar institute, created almost half a century ago under the protection of the health center of the same name. The big difference with the previous ones is that the one known until now as the Bonanova institute is integrated within the structure of the hospital: although the salaries are paid by the Department of Education, the management of the institute corresponds to the hospital and the director of the educational facilities, Montse Blanes is part of the Board of Directors of the health companies. “We are not an alliance, we are part of the hospital and this allows us to be aware of everything that is happening, the needs, the news…” explains Blanes.
This close connection allows for a more fluid relationship when it comes to sharing material and human resources. “Teachers are people who work or have worked in the healthcare field and when we have to do practices in which we do not have machinery, such as radiotherapy, we go to the hospital to do them,” explains Blanes. And these synergies also apply when modeling the professional profiles that the health center needs. “In this profession, knowing how to perform a procedure or technique is important, but so are personal skills, such as empathy or knowing how to treat a patient,” adds the director.
This adaptation of supply and demand has resulted in the creation of three training cycles tailored to the needs of the hospital: Research-oriented medical laboratory (they needed to reinforce the research profile of laboratory technicians), Health documentation and Radiotherapy and imaging for diagnosis (radiotherapy technicians were also required to know how to interpret the images).
With 900 students, the institute has strong demand every year, so they hope that the launch of the other two specialized centers will allow these students to be absorbed.
