Supporting those that support others: The success of a regional clinical support and supervision program.

Abstract

Main focus/theme of, or issues addressed by, the poster: The outcomes of this project have indicated that clinical staff have a need for a level of education in regard to their role as clinical support and supervisors. Many come to the role having years of clinical and supervisory experience but little formal preparation or education in the role. The theme of the poster will highlight that investment in staff capability cannot be underestimated and no doubt contributes to an organisation being able to increase its capacity to support more health care learners.

Research approaches and underlying evaluation (where relevant): 584 clinicians have attended the workshops and 501 have accessed the online modules. Pre and post evaluation results of self defined confidence and competence in providing clinical support will be shared along with anaylsis of the impact of the program on completion and some months later.

Implications for healthcare education: Increasing the numbers of health care students was somewhat easy, we knew we needed to also build capability in staff at the bed side to provide support and supervision. The program developed both online learning modules and workshops conducted in the highway model which is a regional education and traning model developed to deliver programs travelling the 48,000 sq kms of regional Victoria. The future of our workforce depends upon the development of confident and competent practitioners with a healthy self-concept and a commitment to patient centred care and self-directed learning. The achievement of this is strongly influenced by the opportunities we create and the encounters we allow students and the Interprofessional workforce to have. Supporting those that support others has enabled synergies and sharing of fiscal costs, local access for participants and the ability to build capacity and capability in our workforce.