Clarifying the role of clinical supervisors according to physiotherapists at a higher education institution.
Taryn-Lee Voges, Josè M Frantz
PMID 31309164WHAT IT FOUND
Physiotherapy clinical supervisors described their role as educator, mentor, role model and communicator.
They questioned their teaching skills and whether teaching was their duty. Students' weak theory meant time shifted from reasoning to basics.
Key findings
01Clinical supervisors described their role as educator, mentor, role model and communicator.
02The main challenge was teaching: supervisors questioned their teaching skills and whether teaching was their duty, and said students' weak theory shifted time away from reasoning.
03Supervisors said clinicians should guide students, model professionalism and help with patient management, but time, resources and patient-care priorities often limited that role.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study included only 12 of 17 eligible clinical supervisors from one university, so it may not reflect other physiotherapy departments. It reports supervisors' views only, not student learning, clinician views or patient outcomes. No tested supervision intervention was evaluated, so it does not show what works.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use this paper to prove that clinical supervision improves students or patients. It only describes what 12 supervisors at one university thought about their role and challenges.