a handbook for supervising allied health professionals - HETI - NSW ...

THE SUPERGUIDE
Getting to know your supervisee
Patient safety comes first
Where is your supervisee
on the learning curve
30
Have you checked their skills
Patient safety is a core
responsibility of all clinical
staff that cannot be delegated.
The clinical care and safety of the patient is the responsibility of all health care
professionals. It is important when establishing the supervisory relationship to ascertain
the clinical skills of the supervised clinician, whether they are a new graduate or moving
into a new clinical speciality.
For example, a physiotherapist may move from orthopaedics, where they are a confident
practitioner, to respiratory medicine, where they have not worked. While they may be
confident in biomechanical assessment and treatment approaches, they may require further
development of specific skills under supervision such as cardiopulmonary interventions
before completing these tasks independently or being rostered after hours and on call.
Situations as described above are common place in the NSW Health system. To ensure
patient safety it is critical that the supervisor:
• discusses the intervention plan for the patient with the supervisee to facilitate
clinical reasoning and decision making to ensure safe patient care
• routinely oversees patient care as required to ensure that allied health professionals
are acting competently
• is vigilant to detect triggers for a need for further involvement (to prevent or correct
management errors by staff or to escalate care)
• is accessible when assistance is sought or ensures there is someone else to go
to when the supervisor is absent.
It is far better for supervisors to be actively engaged in supervision that prevents errors
and maintains standards than to attempt to manage problems after the event.