Roles and Responsibilities of a Clinical Supervisor

The national Association of Clinical Tutors have described the role of the Educational/ Clinical Supervisor in 'A Guide to the organisation of Postgraduate Medical Education' compiled by Dr Liz Spencer with input from the Council and members of NACT UK, PMETB, Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, COPMeD, NAMEM and the Medical Workforce Forum of NHS Employers. 

The following description is taken directly from this guide and are included here for your guidance.

For every placement the trainee must have a named clinical supervisor and the trainee should be informed in writing of this.

All Clinical Supervisors

• Must offer a level of supervision of clinical activity appropriate to the competence and experience of the individual trainee; no trainee should be required to assume responsibility for or perform clinical, operative or other techniques in which they have insufficient experience and expertise; trainees should only perform tasks without direct supervision when the supervisor is satisfied regarding their competence so to do; both trainee and supervisor should at all times be aware of their direct responsibilities for the safety of patients in their care.
• Should be involved with teaching and training the trainee in the workplace and should help with both professional and personal development.
• Support the trainee in various ways
  • direct supervision, in the operating theatre, the ward or the consulting room
  • close but not direct supervision, eg. in the theatre suite, in the next door room, reviewing cases and process during and/or after a session
  • regular discussions, review of cases and feedback
• He/she may delegate some clinical supervision to other members of clinical team as long as the team member clearly understands the role and the trainee is informed. The trainee must know who is providing clinical supervision at all times.
• Ensure specialty induction occurs & includes
  • Introduction to the clinical department - duties of the post, any particular responsibilities, departmental meetings and senior cover.
  • Role of the multidisciplinary team that covers out of hours to ensure safe and effective clinical care at night and weekends, cross-specialty induction when cross-cover required, bleep policies, managed hand-over, clear team understanding of individual competencies and safe supervision etc.
• Must meet the trainee before or within a week of starting the placement, establish a supportive relationship and agree a learning plan, agreeing specific and realistic specialty learning objectives appropriate to the level of the individual trainee
• Provide regular review during the placement both formally and informally to ensure that the trainee is obtaining the necessary experience, including supervised experience in practical procedures and to give regular constructive feedback on performance.
• Perform and oversee the work-based assessments
• Ensure the trainee’s attendance at formal education sessions, completion of audit project and other requirements of Programme.

All Clinical Supervisors

• Must have prepared themselves adequately for the role, be familiar with the relevant Programme Curriculum and the specialty specific learning objectives.
• Are responsible for ensuring that relevant information about progress and performance is made available to the educational supervisor, particularly if the performance of any individual trainee gives rise to concern.
• Must ensure that the appropriate members of the multi-professional team are aware of the learning and assessment needs of the Trainee and are familiar with the relevant paperwork surrounding the workplace assessments
• Are responsible for creating a learning environment in the workplace to enable positive and constructive feedback to the trainee from the multi-professional team
• Should have time allocated in their job plan, in SPA time, for this activity.

South West Peninsula Deanery Supervisor Training Programme details - click here.