Skills for Supervisors

I have just finished my final placement of the course and it was also the one that I enjoyed the most and learnt the most. I think that a lot of our enjoyment and learning experience in a placement come from the attitude and direction provided by our direct clinical supervisor. I thought I would talk about some of the characteristics of my supervisor that made this placement awesome.
Approachability- I guess for me this is a big one. As students, we always have questions because we are new in the area and are still gaining experience. The best supervisors make you feel comfortable enough to ask the questions that you want to. You have to know that you wont be judged negatively to be able to approach someone to ask them a question.
Accessibility- The supervisor should have time available outside their own caseload so that you can ask questions and they can even observe your treatments. This is probably one of the harder things for supervisors but I remember hearing about some research done at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital that found that the contributions made by student physios in treating patients equated to the time lost in supervision.
Knowledge- This one is fairly obvious. The supervisor should have enough experience and knowledge in the area to pass on to us. I had one supervisor this year who had graduated the year before and was on her first rotation after working for only about 3 months.
Constructive- Feedback given my the supervisor should be practical and constructive. It’s really important for us to know was areas our skills need to improve but constructive feedback would help us to fill in the holes in our knowledge, not just let us know that they exist.
Passion- This is probably the most important of all because if a supervisor is passionate about the area of physio in which they are working, this is infectious and we catch the passion. This both makes the placement more enjoyable and us more productive. Everyone’s happy :-)

Well, that’s my thoughts on this topic. I’m not sure how much it applies to us now, but for most of us at some stage in our life we’ll be in a position of leadership or management and these would be useful skills and characteristics to develop.