Supervision of chiropractors: a summary of results from two surveys involving chiropractic supervisors and graduates in England and Sweden.

BACKGROUND

Supervision of newly graduated health care practitioners takes place in many clinical settings, such as in different types of hospital departments, in general practice, and now also within the chiropractic profession. The author conducted an initial study to determine the most important issues regarding the supervision of chiropractic graduates in Sweden. Because it is important to define and discuss the format and contents for that part of the 1-year postgraduate education program for the newly graduated chiropractor that takes place in private chiropractic offices, a new study was conducted involving chiropractic supervisors and new graduates in Sweden and England.

OBJECTIVES

To establish what chiropractic supervisors and new graduates believe is important for the graduates to learn during the clinical part of their postgraduate education, to describe the characteristics required (according to supervisors and graduates in the study) to be a good supervisor for a chiropractic graduate, and to investigate whether there are differences in opinions between supervisors and graduates and between the 2 countries.

METHODS

Questionnaires were sent out to 11 Swedish chiropractic graduates, 30 English chiropractic graduates, and 30 English chiropractic supervisors who had chiropractic graduates at the time of the survey.

RESULTS

Participants agreed that the most important aspect of the clinical activities was to have regular meetings with the graduate, to be professional, and to explain the patient's problems. The most important characteristic to become a good supervisor was that the supervisor is willing to spend time and listen to the graduate throughout the postgraduate training period. The Swedish participants more often considered it important to give the graduates academic articles to read.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study suggest that it is the human aspect and the personal relationship between the supervisor and the graduate that are important during the graduate's 1-year postgraduate education at the chiropractic clinic. Chiropractic supervisors and new graduates both believe that one of the most important aspects of supervision is the ongoing dialogue between the supervisor and the graduate.