For me, supervision on practicals can influence my learning hugely. I like a supervisor who is approachable and supportive and who provides thorough feedback.
I have been very lucky as I have found all of my supervisors this year have been very approachable. I have come across supervisors in previous years that don’t give much guidance and can make you feel like a nuisance. During these placements I found it difficult to ask questions about an assessment or treatment technique and this limited my learning. Every supervisor this year has told me throughout the placement that if there are any questions or queries they are there to help.
I particularly like it when the physiotherapist supervising me asks how I’d like to receive feedback, whether I’d like feedback during the treatments session or whether I like it left until the end. I personally like feedback during the session so I can correct my technique and practice it there and then. Not only does it benefit my learning, it also benefits the patient’s treatment session. I really like supervisor’s who provide feedback when you would like it.
On one practical I had a different supervisor each day. At first this was challenging as different supervisors can contradict each other. However, by the end of the placement I had learnt 5 ways of treating a patient instead of one. I think with more experience we will learn our own style and select techniques we have learnt from different physiotherapists.
Communicating with supervisors is vital for us as students as we want to make the most out of the placement. Approachable and supportive supervisors aid to broaden our knowledge as physiotherapists. Although each supervisor may tackle a patient differently or provide feedback differently we should recognise which qualities we like best as we are all likely to take on supervisory jobs in the future. I’d be interested to hear others ideal qualities of a supervisor.
2 comments:
We think exactly alike on the subject of supervisors steph! I think it can e tough having lots of supervisors because often they contradict each other and you are left wondering which is the right approach. But, in a way this helps you to develop your clinical reasoning as you have more options to choose from and as long as you have a sound basis for your treatment you should be alright.
And since you asked, my ideal supervisor sounds a lot like yours: approachable, knowledgeable (and keen to impart that knowledge) and gives lots of feedback in a constructive manner.
I agree with everything that you both have mentioned. It is good to have an approachable and knowledgeable supervisor, and I guess the more feedback we get, the better physios we will become. On my current placement, I was given a learning styles questionnaire to complete, so that I could discuss my learning style and personality and compare it to my supervisor. I was really impressed that they did this, as it provided an opportunity to discuss and compare ways that we may approach a situation. I think that by discussing these similarities or differences early on in a placement really creates a better understanding between two individuals, allows us to be more accommodating of one another and helps to prevent conflict arising later on.
Post a Comment