Mentorship and clinical supervision

1. Mentorship and clinical supervision Chapter 1

2. Learning bbjectives • understand the overall structure and content of this book • start to understand the concept of learning through practice • recognize how this book has relevance to yourself as a learner and to your support of others in clinical settings • appreciate how important learning through practice is in bridging the theory and practice ‘gap’.

3. Aspects that are examined • making the best of use of clinical learning opportunities • identifying individual learning needs, i.e. learning contracts and personal development plans • clinical supervision, mentorship and preceptorship • problem-based and action learning • evidencing practice learning, i.e. portfolios, competencies, assessment and evaluation facilitation of learning • the adult learner and lifelong learning • improving the learning environment and managing constraints • the wider context of continuous professional development, including training needs analysis and practice educator roles.

4. Learning in a health care setting • In order to get the most from learning through practice it is necessary to appreciate the complexity of learning within a health care setting. • Health care practitioners perceive, experience, and learn to manage everyday practice in contexts where many things happen at the same time. • Practice learning remains largely implicit, and part of the task of this book is to help you to engage with and get the most from your practice and that of others.

5. Using this book • Each chapter commences by identifying the key elements that you will learn about in the text and contains activities that illustrate the issues with which the chapter deals. • One example of this will be a ‘reflective activity’ that gives you time to reflect on the ideas that you are meeting and relate them in some way to your own experiences. • So that the use of educational terminology does not impede understanding, ‘key words’ will be defined in the margin, to help you to ‘translate’ the words for your own use and become comfortable with using the words and the concepts that they incorporate. • A few ‘rapid recap’ questions are offered at the end of each chapter to allow you an opportunity to examine ‘what you have learnt’.

6. Introduction • In this book you will examine learning through practice, what it is and why it is important, not only for your own learning and for the development of your professional practice but also for supporting others in their clinical learning. • The book covers a range of issues, theories and practical examples regarding learning through practice and is a helpful resource for students who want to get the most from their clinical placements and for mentors and supervisors, who facilitate learning within clinical settings.

7. Rapid recap • What is situated learning? • What is a community of practice? • Define the term ‘tacit knowledge’ • Give some examples of evidence that could be used within a professional portfolio.