The Role of the Supervisor
Why are supervisors needed?
All patient-facing learning and clinical experience required for a registerable qualification must take place under supervision, unless the activity does not include functions protected under regulation. The supervisor must be a full GOC registrant (or other statutorily registered healthcare professional who has an appropriate scope of practice) who is legally responsible for the work of the learner, ensuring that patient consultations are conducted safely and correctly.
Learners must also assure themselves that they have access to appropriate supervision when undertaking protected activities. Equally, learners who are already full registrants are expected to determine and monitor what is being undertaken within their scope of practice, and what requires supervision from others.
Non-registrant optical colleagues do not legally require supervision in the same way as registerable clinicians in training, as they are not permitted to undertake functions that are protected under regulation.
Campus settings
In the early parts of courses, clinical teaching typically takes place in a controlled environment under the close eye of an academic member of the course team, or clinical demonstrator. Providers need to assure the GOC that the team is sufficiently well resourced to ensure the safety of these activities, as well as the quality of the learning experience, since learning here underpins the formation of skills used throughout the learner’s career.
All learners who are undertaking extended periods of workplace clinical practice should have an identified contact within the course team who is responsible for monitoring their progression and supporting them in engaging with Higher Education processes as the need arises. It is essential that the time required to undertake this role is recognised in academic provider workload allocation models.
Additional guidance on provider approaches to benchmarking and assuring resourcing needs for clinical teaching is provided in the SPOKE SSR benchmark guidance.
Workplace settings
In line with the GOC expectation that complexity of patient interaction increases over the duration of the course, latter parts of the course are typically delivered in workplace settings i.e. in supervised practice.
In addition to assuring patient safety, supervisors guide learners as they build up their experience and refine their skills and judgment, arranging for them to see a range of types of patients and conditions under appropriate oversight in a practice environment. They also help learners to apply and develop the knowledge and skills they have learned, and the level of proficiency and independence required to qualify for registration.