THE ART OF CLINICAL SUPERVISION

Helping nurses to become effective and confident as primary nurses inv olves developing their interpersonal skills, sharpening their decision -making and nurturing their creativity. In our action research study, we found that traditional methods of ward teaching did not help to pro mote this kind of professional growth. We therefore developed, tested and refined three distinct strategies for clinical supervision which s pecifically aimed to foster more thoughtful and more sensitive nursing practice. Very importantly, we found that these approaches to supervi sion were feasible and practical to use in a busy hospital ward.In thi s paper, we describe the three supervision strategies, using a clinica l story to illustrate what each demands from the supervisor and what i t offers the nurse under supervision. We also suggest ways in which ex pert nurses can be helped to become effective clinical supervisors.