Three key considerations for implementing clinical supervision in healthcare settings
13 Mar 2024
What might be some important considerations for workplaces when seeking professional supervision for healthcare staff? What are some of the key issues to consider when implementing clinical supervision? What are the barriers? And how can organisations ensure the best return on their investment? See below to set your workplace up for successful outcomes in supervision.
Content analysis revealed that (barriers to clinical supervision 'CS') were predominantly clustered around structural impediments (operational workload/staffing issues), CS-specific factors (lack of appropriate supervisors) and the institutional context in which CS provision was located (workplace culture, fear of judgement, management concerns).
1. Barriers to engagement in clinical supervision
Research reveals that barriers to engagement in clinical supervision for healthcare workers can be summarised under four key areas:
Operational and staffing needs
Adequately trained and skilled supervisors
Confusion regarding the purpose of clinical supervision for healthcare workers
One of the major resisting forces was the lack of knowledge of clinical supervision. Staff members were also suspicious about clinical supervision being linked with line management.
The literature supports the view that line management supervision and clinical supervision need to be separate entities in order for nurses to accept and agree to clinical supervision.
Workplace culture
Tempo's Helping Professionals Interview Series highlights the often-challenging cultures that exist in healthcare organisations. An analysis of clinical supervision in medical settings confirms that organisational structures, and team and worker attitudes, can impede engagement and openness to participation in this type of support. This is exacerbated by clinicians' tendencies to put others first.
2. Creating a safe space for clinical supervision
It is clear that there is confusion regarding the content, purpose and value of clinical supervision, and that workplacepolitics and culture, are impacting its accessibility, engagement and participation within healthcare settings.
How can workplaces create safe spaces for clinical supervision so that staff understand its purpose, what is involved, and feel a sense of certainty and trust that it will be a safe and confidential space?
Here is a list of recommendations from the research:
Educating staff about the purpose, value and content of clinical supervision.
Being creative and flexible with contracting and / or delivery of supervision to ensure availability to staff, particularly when considering the needs of shift workers.
Keep line management separate from clinical supervision.
Mental health conditions present substantial costs to organisations. However, through the successful implementation of an effective action to create a mentally healthy workplace, organisations, on average, can expect a positive return on investment (ROI) of 2.3. That is, for every dollar spent on successfully implementing an appropriate action, there is on average $2.30 in benefits to be gained by the organisation.
Taking resources of time and money out of any budget can be a tall order for any service.
However, with recent statistics confirming that 84% of healthcare workers experienced burnout in 2022, and increasingly high levels of worker distress and anticipated withdrawal from the workforce, it is imperative that the mental health of clinicians is supported in the workplace.
The cost to healthcare services due to absenteeism, presenteeism and compensation claims can be reduced by thousands if you have a mental health plan and offer effective support to staff.
See the information summarised in the infographic below:
Clinical supervision can be an important aspect to a comprehensive plan of support for healthcare staff that delivers financial return on investment and a quality return on value that supports staff and ultimately service users.
For information on how Tempo might be able to support your staff or teams through clinical supervision, contact Minky here.
Anyone in healthcare will tell you that teams make the world go round. For better or for worse, the people in our teams have a huge impact on us. They can make or break our capacity to practice well, communicate well, be well and, importantly achieve great outcomes for our clients / patients. How can we ensure that we are healthy and thriving, individually and collectively in our work teams? Team supervision is an important cog in the wheel of compassion satisfaction and flourishing in helping work. What is team supervision and what is involved?
Clinical supervision is one part of a complex pie of workplace sustainability and wellbeing in healthcare. Practical and financial considerations for rolling out clinical supervision in the workplace suggest that team supervision is an efficient use of time and resources. But what does the evidence say? Please see below for an overview of potential outcomes that organisations might expect when implementing clinical supervision in the workplace.
For workers in a helping role, professional supervision is an essential component of the work: it supports positive outcomes for clients, maintenance of ethical standards, the development of skills and, importantly, the wellbeing of workers. Whilst most workplaces strive to offer regular supervision, the reality is often far from ideal. This blog explores how supervision groups outside of your workplace can offer a much needed space for reflection, connection and mutual support for teachers and healthcare workers.
When we are burnt out it is hard to take the steps we need to begin to recover. In this blog you will find short summaries and links to podcasts on burnout. There is a range of information here from different professions, including doctors, naturopaths, psychologists and therapists. Understand the stress response cycle, hear personal stories from those who have experienced burnout in relation to work and home, hear why listening to your body is important and even what we can learn from dancing to our own rhythm!
