“Isn’t it just a chat?” A qualitative exploration of students’ understanding and experience of structured clinical supervision in rural Allied Health placements
Nikhola Hulse1, Allison Angell1, Kylie Hopkins1, Kylie Matthews1, Negin Loh1, James Debenham 1 1Majarlin Kimberley Centre for Remote Health, Broome, Western Australia, Australia
Abstract
Clinical supervision is an essential component of Allied Health (AH) student placements, enhancing learning, patient safety and clinical outcomes. Whilst best practice in supervision is well-documented, limited research exists regarding students’ knowledge and experiences. In this study, we explored supervision in the context of AH placements in the Kimberley, Western Australia.
Sixty AH students undertaking rural placements were surveyed via the Modified Maastricht Teaching Questionnaire, which explored students’ understanding of supervision and how structured supervision impacted their placement. Thematic analysis revealed that prior to placement, most students’ understanding of supervision was basic and inconsistent, described using simple terms such as ‘support’, ‘advice’, and ‘guidance’. Following placement, commentary was more accurate, detailed, and reflective of agreed definitions. Students articulated positive experiences of supervision, including ‘value of demonstrations’, ‘supervisor empathy’, ‘varied supervision structure (group vs individual)’, ‘clear feedback’, ‘collaborative learning’, and ‘focus on learning objectives’. Negative experiences were reported when students felt they had ‘received inconsistent feedback’, or their supervisor was perceived to ‘not model behaviour’. Whilst most commentary was positive, the following independent factors negatively impacted students’ perspectives: 1) having multiple supervisors, 2) performing poorly or 3) being part of larger student cohorts.
Our study informs practice in several ways. Given supervision is effective but AH students have sub-optimal understanding, clinical educators might implement defined and structured supervision to increase understanding and positively impact placement outcomes. Educators should note that at times, students may be critical of supervision if not implemented comprehensively, and students may conflate poor performance with poor supervision.
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