When I say … clinical supervision

Abstract

Imagine this: you are a health professional working as part of a team when you notice a newly qualified health professional, a recent addition to the team, struggling to cope with the pressures of everyday health care service delivery. What can you do to support this newly qualified health professional specifically and to protect the health system more broadly? Clinical supervision may be the solution! It is not uncommon for health organisations to promote the clinical supervision of health professionals to enhance professional support as part of systemwide clinical governance processes. However, although the popularity of clinical supervision is growing, its impact is difficult to quantify. Why? Often because of a lack of understanding of what clinical supervision actually is and the ambiguity associated with its nomenclature. The purpose of this short paper is to shed light on what clinical supervision is, and is not, in the context of continuing professional development.