ABSTRACT
Until recently, doctors in the United Kingdom have had little formal experience of clinical supervision. However, there is a new requirement for regular, formal educational and clinical supervision for all doctors in training grades. Therefore, the topic of clinical supervision for general practitioners is timely in the UK today. Over the last few years, the author and her colleagues have pioneered a framework for supervision skills which has been taught in workshops for medical educators in primary and secondary care. The author has found that experienced clinicians value this model as a facilitator to useful conversations with colleagues about workplace dilemmas, difficult cases, team interactions, problems with trainees and help with career decisions. The author introduces, in this chapter, the model which is based on ideas drawn from a variety of sources, including family therapy, systemic approaches and narrative ideas. She also outlines some of the main theoretical ideas drawn upon and the means by which these have been introduced to clinicians.
