Finding and addressing weaknesses in GP supervisor professional development

Abstract

Background The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ Standards for general practice training require supervisor continuing professional development (PD) to meet the needs of the individual supervisors and develop the supervisory team. Objective The aim of this article is to explore current supervisor PD and consider how it might better meet the outcomes described in the standards. Discussion General practitioner supervisor PD delivered by regional training organisations (RTOs) continues to operate without a national curriculum. It is predominantly workshop based and is complemented in some RTOs by online modules. Workshop learning is important for supervisor identity formation and establishing and maintaining communities of practice. Current programs are not structured to deliver individualised supervisor PD or develop the in-practice supervision team. Supervisors may struggle to translate workshop learning into changes in their practice. An in-practice quality improvement intervention facilitated by a visiting medical educator has been developed to address weaknesses in current supervisor PD. This intervention is ready to be trialled and further evaluated.