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Clinical Supervision for Advanced Practitioners

“Clinical Supervision…provides nurses with a space to reflect on and discuss aspects of their role that are motivating and inspiring them, and also those elements that are frustrating or concerning them. Nurses and their supervisors can then jointly work through how the former can be promoted and the latter addressed.” (Scottish Government 2017)1 .


West of Scotland Advanced Practice Academy guidance and the CNO’s Transforming Roles work expects regular Clinical Supervision for all ANPs. Over the course of the next few months we’re looking to expand Clinical Supervision across all ANP teams.

What does Clinical Supervision involve?

Clinical Supervision can be undertaken individually or in small groups. A trained facilitator (the Clinical Supervisor) will facilitate a discussion which will reflect on practice and to think about what could be developed. “The facilitator does not make choices for people but creates the opportunity for them to choose”. 2


Who can be an ANP Clinical Supervisor?

ANP Clinical Supervisors should be experienced ANPs with facilitation skills and an interest in Clinical Supervision. Potential Clinical Supervisors should be nominated by their line manager. Nominations should be sent to the Consultant Nurse – Advanced Practice.

 
How do you train to be an ANP Clinical Supervisor?

The training for the role involves an online course currently taught by NHS Education for Scotland facilitators. Once the training is completed, new Supervisors may begin to undertake supervision sessions with their supervisees. Additional support can be provided by experienced supervisors.

What is expected from Supervisees?

Every ANP will eventually be offered a minimum of 4 Clinical Supervision sessions a year and will be expected to attend.
Supervisees will be expected to do some preparation for the meeting and to reflect on what they’ve got out of the session afterwards. This could be written up as a short reflective piece in the TURAS Professional Portfolio and be used for annual appraisal and revalidation.


How will Clinical Supervision Supervisors be allocated?

Supervisor-Supervisee pairings will be determined locally by individual ANP line managers.
Supervisors don’t need to work in the same service as their Supervisee, but should have a good understanding of the supervisee’s role. It is envisaged that supervisor-supervisee pairings will be within the following groups: adult acute care, acute paediatrics, acute neonates, community and primary care and mental health. Each supervisor will have 3-5 supervisee’s each.


Where will I find time for Clinical Supervision?

All ANPs should have time for Supporting Professional Activities and CPD built into their Job Plan. Some of this time should be used for Clinical Supervision. How this time is allocated will be up to individual line managers and will depend on the demands of service.


Do Supervision Sessions have to be face-to-face?

Supervision sessions can be face-to-face, however they can also be held over MS Teams. At the present time with the high incidence of Covid the use of Teams is to be encouraged.


How will supervision sessions be recorded?

Supervisors are expected to record basic details on the supervision session via Webropol. The information recorded will be the names of those involved in the supervision session, the date supervision took place, whether it was a face-to-face meeting or via teams and the topics discussed (high level only – no details as supervision sessions should be confidential). The webropol link is available on the ANP CPD moodle site.

Where can I find out more about Clinical Supervision?

NES have some really good resources at: https://learn.nes.nhs.scot/3580/clinical-supervision.

Unit 1 provides general information for Supervisees and managers on Clinical Supervision. Units 2-4 are aimed at Clinical Supervisors.


Further information will be added to the ‘Clinical Supervision’ section on the ANP Continuing Professional Development GGCMoodle site over time as it develops for ANPs.


Dr Mark Cooper, Consultant Nurse – Advanced Practice,

[1] Scottish Government (2017) Nursing 2030 Vision: Promoting confidence, competent and collaborative nursing for Scotland’s future. Available at: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/07/4277 Last accessed 29.10.19

[2] Joint Improvement Team