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Clinical Supervision for Health Professionals

Learn the skills you need to become an effective clinical supervisor and inspire the health professionals of tomorrow.

339 enrolled on this course

A healthcare professional assesses a patient under supervision

Discover how to improve the quality of students’ learning on clinical placement

What does it take to become an effective clinical supervisor? This course introduces you to the skills and tools you need to approach your supervisory responsibilities with more confidence. You’ll explore the core principles of learning and teaching in a clinical setting, and understand how to create optimal learning environments. You’ll find out how to compose constructive feedback and communicate it to students effectively. You’ll learn how to apply key strategies to your own practice, so your students experience a productive and successful clinical placement.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 6 seconds Hello everyone, and welcome to clinical supervision for health professionals. Regardless of your professional discipline, or the clinical context in which you work, it’s highly likely that you’re involved with supervising students on placement. As you’re probably aware already, supervising students provides terrific opportunities to share your professional expertise, and to inspire the professionals of the future. But, at the same time, providing clinical supervision in the reality of the workplace can be extremely challenging. Having an understanding though of the principles of clinical supervision is a key to achieving positive outcomes for both students as well as yourselves as supervisors.

Skip to 0 minutes and 56 seconds Our course will support you in your role as a supervisor by firstly introducing you to principles of learning and providing you with the opportunity to discuss these with your peers. We then give you some strategies to create an optimal learning environment, and clinical teaching techniques such as questioning and purposeful observation. We also explore strategies to facilitate critical reflection and effective feedback. So, if you’re a health professional who supervises students on clinical placement, join us in this three week online course which has been designed specifically to meet the needs of clinical supervisors like yourself. I look forward to seeing you online.

What topics will you cover?

  • Foundations for clinical supervision
    • Clinical learning environment
    • Principles of experiential learning
    • Learning and teaching styles
  • Creating optimal learning environments
    • Preparing for student placements
    • Building relationships
    • Clarifying expectations
    • Negotiating learning plans
  • Strategies to support learning
    • Questioning for critical thinking
    • Purposeful observation
    • Facilitating skills development
    • Enabling reflection on learning
    • Providing constructive feedback

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Apply the principles of learning and teaching to the process of clinical supervision
  • Explain the roles and relationships of clinical supervisors
  • Reflect on your clinical supervision practice
  • Develop constructive feedback

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for health professionals in any clinical discipline, and supervisors who are responsible for guiding and mentoring students on clinical placement. You are likely to be a skilled health practitioner working in a clinical setting where students will eventually practise.

Who will you learn with?

Adjunct Professor Robyn Nash is a national award winner whose expertise lies in facilitating quality experiences for students and supervisors in clinical environments.

Who developed the course?

Queensland University of Technology

QUT is a leading Australian university ranked in the top 1% of universities worldwide by the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Located in Brisbane, it attracts over 50,000 students.

  • Established

    1989
  • Location

    Brisbane, Australia
  • World ranking

    Top 180Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019

What's included?

This is a premium course. These courses are designed for professionals from specific industries looking to learn with a smaller group of like-minded individuals.

  • Learn best practices from experts
  • Learn from the experience of other health professionals
  • Fit learning around your schedule with unlimited access
  • Get evidence of learning outcomes and CPD hours
  • Certificate of Achievement to prove your success when you're eligible
  • Download and print your Certificate of Achievement anytime

Still want to know more? Check out our FAQs

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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