Abstract
Objective To measure the quality of interaction between the Public Health Nursing Sister (PHNS) and the Public Health Midwife (PHM) during supervision. Methods This was a cross-sectional study, using triangulation of data obtained from structured observations and audio tape records of supervisor-supervisee interactions and written records of all supervision activities. Twenty four PHNS participated in the study. This study was undertaken in the district of Kalutara. Results Supervisors spent less time on supervising client care issues than on supervising facility level issues and interacting with clients. The weakest skills among the PHNS were ‘seeking client input’ and ‘discussing the next visit’ and the strongest skills were ‘giving feedback’, ‘discussing/interpreting data’ and ‘developing rapport’. Skills of supervision increased with the service duration of the PHNS but none were able to achieve the cut-off mark for satisfactory overall quality of interaction. Conclusions This study indicates that the overall quality of interaction between the PHNS and the PHM during supervision was poor. PHNS lacked skills in prioritisation of supervision activities and time management. They also lacked other necessary skills that ensure a higher quality of PHNS-PHM interaction. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/jpgim.7607 Journal of the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine 2014; 1 (1):E6:1-9
Highlights
Supervision is defined as ‘the overall range of measures to ensure that people carry out their duties effectively and become more competent at work[1]
In describing the time spent for supervision, the supervisory activities were classified into five categories; supervising client care, monitoring facility level issues, interacting with clients, writing notes/comments and other activities (Table 1)
Average time spent on activities during supervision In the present study, writing notes/comments and other activities and supervising facility level issues took a considerable amount of supervisory time when compared to the time spent on supervising client care and interacting with clients
Summary
Supervision is defined as ‘the overall range of measures to ensure that people carry out their duties effectively and become more competent at work[1]. This process helps to ensure quality of programme operations and enables staff to perform duties to their maximum potential[2]. The internal environment includes programme planning, team problem solving, operations monitoring and progress towards achieving objectives whereas the external environment includes policy and guideline changes, training opportunities, communication with other levels of the health system and advocacy[5,6]. To carry out supervision activities regularly and effectively and to ensure that supervision is a priority within the larger healthcare system, managers must make sure their existing supervisory system has the appropriate level of support from the institution or the organisation[6]
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