How not to do clinical supervision in nursing

Abstract

The widespread nursing interpretation of clinical supervision following the accepted definitions of Butterworth and Faugier, elides refinement of boundaries between personal and professional development and growth. In so doing, nursing interpretation confuses the differences between two similar processes and ultimately distorts the purpose of clinical supervision. In nursing supervision, the patient can become lost, thus perpetuating the avoidance of anxiety in intimate therapeutic work, originally described by Menzies in 1959. While a tension naturally exists between the two processes, this paper demonstrates the utter importance of working within the tension of boundaries that define the triadic situation of supervisor, supervisee and patient. When supervision is accepted as personal development, the triadic situation may deteriorate into a dyadic one between supervisor and supervisee only, significantly altering the relationship to the point where the supervisee becomes a patient. Parallel process, ordinarily reflecting the therapeutic nurse-patient relationship in the supervisory one, may then become merely a process running parallel to the supervisee, while utilizing the patient as a source of material for personal growth. This paper demonstrates through Faugier's casework material the necessity of defining boundaries and the difficulties associated in maintaining them, rather than prosaically declaring that 'supervision is not therapy'.

Transition to Mental Health Nursing Through Specialist Graduate Nurse Programs in Mental Health: A Review of the Literature

“…Its focus is on the professional growth and practice improvement of the supervisee through the examination of the supervisee's clinical work" (NQ-ANZCMHN, 2000, p. 4). Clinical supervision has been utilised in a range of clinical settings; however, many suggest the concept of formalised clinical supervision emerged from psychotherapy and counselling (Kilminster & Jolly, 2000;Ritter, Norman, Rentoul, & Bodley, 1996;Yegdich & Cushing, 1998). The advantages of clinical supervision are numerous.…”

The Cultural Realities of Clinical Supervision in an Acute Inpatient Mental Health Setting

“…Cleary and A. Freeman Burns, 1998;Devine & Baxter, 1995;Sloan, 1999;Yegdich, 1998Yegdich, , 1999Yegdich & Cushing, 1998). Clinical supervision is a well-recognised component of psychiatry, social work, and psychology and its applicability to nursing has gained increased interest in recent years.…”

“…In addition, it has been questioned whether personal or professional development should take priority in CS (Yegdich, 1998) and as group members become more self-aware professionally, their priorities are likely to change (Jones, 2003). White et al (1998) suggest that CS should exclude personal matters, unless impeding patient care.…”

Changes in Emotion Work at Interdisciplinary Conferences Following Clinical Supervision in a Palliative Outpatient Ward

“…Several researchers have been critical toward CS and questioned whether CS benefits staff or patients (Lind, 2002;Yegdich, 1998Yegdich, , 1999. Some critics of CS even claim that it is nothing more than an "emotional outlet."…”