Seeing things differently: Evaluating psychodynamically informed group clinical supervision for general hospital nurses

Abstract

This paper reports the findings from the development of psychodynamically informed group supervision for 52 clinical leaders in nursing at a general NHS hospital over four years. The initiative was evaluated through a variety of methods, underpinned by action research. This paper is based on the findings generated by semi-structured interviews (n=24) and descriptive statistics of staff sickness and turnover. The findings suggest that clinical supervision using a psychodynamically informed approach helps nurses acknowledge their feelings and see their work from a different perspective; builds confidence; provides support through a crisis and reduces their isolation in their role. Other findings suggest that, while having no impact on staff turnover, clinical supervision might reduce staff sickness. However, not all staff were comfortable with the experiential nature of clinical supervision and there was fragmented attendance at sessions. Embedding supervision into nursing practice remains a challenge; this paper offers an approach that has proved sustainable over four years.