Structure

There are a variety of ways in which participants can work through the programme.  Each participant will have their own set of material and ideally, a facilitator will support action learning sets, working groups or discussion groups; they can also work effectively with one to one support from a critical companion.  However, the reading and many of the activities can be completed by participants independently, this helps minimise the cost and inconvenience of contact time, and reduce the pressure in clinical areas.

All these options are described in detail in the Facilitator's Guide and the Participant's Guide.  Each Guide describes how each component of the package can be used to their maximum advantage.

The comprehensive package of learning materials contains a number of components.

The Practitioner's Companion, a comprehensive workbook combining both theory and practice, is presented in two parts:

• Part 1, Getting going: developing clinical supervision roles, skills and approaches contains Modules 1.  It sets out the background to clinical supervision and explores the structure, processes and skills that are relevant to the supervisor and supervisee.  
• Part 2, Moving on: extending, stabilising and evaluating clinical supervision contains Modules 2-5 and offers the practical application of clinical supervision as part of continuing professional development and the implementation of national agendas.

The Facilitator's pack includes the Facilitator's Guide and two DVD's: Caring together: clinical supervision from the RCN Nursing Update Series; the second, one-to-one Supervision: facilitating the analysis of a significant experience has been specially commissioned to show effective clinical supervision in practice.

The Participant's Guide, The Learning Resources and The Reader accompany Modules 1-5.  Details of each component of the package are given below.

• The Facilitator's Guide is designed to help facilitators find their way around the pack, and discusses the most effective forms of delivery experienced by those involved as facilitators on the original programme.  It also includes a glossary of terms, the bibliography and an evaluation questionnaire.
  
• The Participant's Guide is designed to stimulate, guide and develop participants so that they achieve maximum benefit from their learning.  It familiarises them with some of the terms used in the pack, and suggests ways to plan their study.  It also includes the glossary, a list of references cited in Modules 1-5 and the Learning resources, suggested further reading and an evaluation questionnaire.
  
• The Learning Resources include a wide range of data and other reference material which participants will find useful to enhance their understanding and for use when they start to use their knowledge in the workplace.
  
• The Reader contains the full text of key articles and book chapters that participants are invited to use in the activities in the The Practitioner's Companion, Parts 1 and 2.