Telesupervision in General Practice Training: A Case Study

Abstract

While recruitment to General Practice (GP) is a Government priority (NHS England, 2016), matching trainees to available trainers can be challenging. Remote supervision using Digital Video Conferencing (DVC) technology (telesupervision) has proven to be a workable solution to overcome this problem (Dudding, 2009; Brandoff and Lombardi, 2012) since supervisors can engage in effective supervision even when geographically distant from the supervisee. However, this has not been studied in GP training.The use of telesupervision in GP training adds an extra dimension, since trainees require clinical supervision in their placement practice as well as educational supervision from a qualified GP trainer. Such a model therefore would depend upon a triad of relationships between the trainee and clinical supervisor in one location, and an educational supervisor operating remotely.This Reflection on Practice paper presents a case study of Telesupervision, from the perspective of a GP educational supervisor (ES). It is presented as a real world exploration of the issues that would be encountered in such a model, and explores both the technical aspects of setting up effective telesupervision and the experience of coaching across a DVC platform in the particular context of GP training. Fundamental to the effectiveness of such a model would be the clear demarcation of the roles and responsibilities of the clinical and educational supervisors and their working relationship with the trainee.