Supervision

Guide to the Performance Appraisal System in the Civil Service and Local Authorities

The purpose of this guide is to assist the Appraising Officer (Supervisor) and the Appraisee in the effective implementation of the PAS in the Civil Service and Local Authorities. [from introduction]

New Nurses Burnout and Workplace Wellbeing: The Influence of Authentic Leadership and Psychological Capital

The detrimental effects of burnout on nurses’ health and wellbeing are well documented and positive leadership has been shown to be an important organizational resource for discouraging the development of burnout. Intrapersonal resources also play a protective role against workplace stressors. This study investigated the influence of authentic leadership, an organizational resource, and psychological capital, an intrapersonal resource, on new graduate burnout, occupational satisfaction, and workplace mental health over the first year of employment (n = 205). [from abstract]

Developing Leadership and Management Competencies in Low and Middle-Income Country Health Systems: A Review of the Literature

This paper undertakes a review of the existing management and leadership literature from LMIC settings with a view to unpacking the roles of leaders and managers,
the competencies required, and the key approaches to developing these management and leadership competencies. [from summary]

Supervising Community Health Workers in Low-Income Countries – A Review of Impact and Implementation Issues

To determine the impact of supervision strategies used in low- and middle-income countries and discuss implementation and feasibility issues with a focus on [Community Health Workers]. [Adapted from abstract]

Leadership Practices of Head Nurses as Expected and Perceived by Staff Nurses in Public Hospitals in Banda Aceh, Indonesia

This study aimed to identify the levels of leadership practices among head nurses as expected and perceived by staff nurses and to compare the differences between expectation and perception of staff nurses toward leadership practices of head nurses in public hospitals of Banda Aceh, Indonesia. [from abstract]

Evaluation of Facilitative Supervision Visits in Primary Health Care Service Delivery in Northern Ghana

This paper presents the standard evaluation results of facilitative supervisory visits, which form an integral part of a new system of management for Ghana’s community-based health planning services. [adapted from abstract]

District Health Managers' Perceptions of Supervision in Malawi and Tanzania

Supervision plays a key role in performance and motivation, but is frequently characterized by periodic inspection and control, rather than support and feedback to improve performance. This paper explores the perceptions of district health management teams in Tanzania and Malawi on their role as supervisors and on the challenges to effective supervision at the district level. [from abstract]

Smartphones Improve Supportive Supervision for Tuberculosis in Nigeria

This brief describes the process and outcomes of a project in Nigeria that developed a standard, integrated tuberculosis (TB) supervision checklist to assess and monitor diagnostic laboratories and TB services at the facility-level in the public and private sectors, which was deployed using smartphones. [adapted from author]

In-Depth Expoloration of Health Worker Supervision in Malawi and Tanzania

This presentation from the Irish Forum for Global Health 2012 outlines research that explored the perceptions of district health management teams in Tanzania and Malawi on their role as supervisors and the challenges to effective supervision at the district level. [adapted from author]

Supervising Healthcare Services Learning Resource Package

This learning resource package for supervisors in medium-to-large facilities and for district-level supervisors is developed around aspects of performance improvement and quality of healthcare services, focusing on essential skills required to work with staff and members of the community in establishing standards and problem solving. [from publisher]

Critical Role of Supervision in Retaining Staff in Obstetric Services: A Three Country Study

This study identifies the implications of different types of supervision for healthcare worker job satisfaction and intention to leave the workplace in Malawi, Tanzania, and Mozambique. [adapted from author]

Improving Infection Prevention and Control in Ethiopia through Supportive Supervision of Health Facilities

This report outlines an intervention that utilized supportive supervision in 86 facilities around Ethiopia that aimed to: enable healthcare workers to practice new skills in infection prevention and control (IPC) following formal trainings; coach health care facility staff to improve their performance in order to meet recommended IPC standards; improve the skills of supervisors for independent program monitoring; integrate IPC into the routine health care supervision system; and monitor the changes in program performance as a result of these activities. [adapted from author]

Nigeria TB Supportive Supervision Pilot Evaluation

This document is an evaluation of the implementation of a tool to assist in supervision, assessment and creation of action plans for quality improvement in facilities where TB is diagnosed and treated. [adapated from introduction]

Strengthening Supportive Supervision at the District Health Level in the Pacific

This brief outlines the need for supportive supervision, the challenges to its implementation in the Pacific, and recommendations to address these. [adapted from author]

Using Technology for Supportive Supervision for TB in Nigeria

This presentation outlines an intervention that introduced PDAs or Smartphones for data collection in Nigeria to improve the supervision, assessment and creation of action plans for quality improvement in facilities where tuberculosis (TB) is diagnosed and treated. [adapted from author]

Supervision of Community Peer Counsellors for Infant Feeding in South Africa: an Exploratory Qualitative Study

This qualitative paper reports on the experience of three community health worker (CHW) supervisors who were responsible for supporting infant feeding peer counsellors. The findings highlight the complexities of supervising and supporting CHWs. [adapted from abstract]

Primary Health Care Supervision in Developing Countries

The objectives of this article were summarise opinion about what supervision of primary health care is by those advocating it; compare these features with reports describing supervision in practice; and to appraise the evidence of the effects of sector performance. [adapted from summary]

Implementation of Performance Support Approaches in Central America and Uganda

The Capacity Project worked with governments and partners in Central America and Uganda to test approaches for strengthening supervision systems in the health sector, as one component of the Project’s workforce performance support strengthening. [from summary]

Supporting Health Worker Performance with Effective Supervision

This brief includes the results of the Project’s performance support (PS) interventions, and discusses factors that contributed to those results. The brief shares the common intervention model, analyzes the variations in content, context and methods of the interventions and discusses how similarities and differences played a role in the results. Finally, the brief includes recommendations for implementing and scaling up PS interventions. [from author]

New Strategies for Supervision

This presentation outlines a new vision of supportive supervision that is an ongoing process, forges relationships within the system and reinforces quality outcomes at all levels. [adapted from author]

Modern Supervision in Action: a Practical Guide for Midwives

The aims of this publication are to encourage midwives and student midwives to make the most of supervision by working in partnership with their supervisor; provide clear information about the supervisory process and the interface between supervision and midwifery practice; and inform midwives and student midwives about the changing role of the supervisor of midwives. [from introduction]

Facilitative Supervision for Quality Improvement: a Curriculum

This curriculum focuses on the fundamentals of quality health care services in presenting an approach to supervision that emphasizes mentoring, joint problem solving, and two-way communication. It is meant to be used by trainers who introduce the facilitative approach to supervision to supervisors from different levels of the health system: on-site and off-site supervisors, including medical and nonmedical supervisors. [from publisher]

Supportive Supervision to Sustain Health Worker Capacity in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatera

This brief describes PATH’s project to implement supportive supervision techniques to improve health worker training in Indonesia.

Improving Quality of Reproductive Health Care in Senegal Through Formative Supervision: Results from Four Districts

In Senegal, traditional supervision often focuses more on collection of service statistics than on evaluation of service quality. This approach yields limited information on quality of care and does little to improve providers’ competence. In response to this challenge, Management Sciences for Health (MSH) has implemented a program of formative supervision. This multifaceted, problem-solving approach collects data on quality of care, improves technical competence, and engages the community in improving reproductive health care. [abstract]

Supervisor Competency Self-Assessment Inventory

This Self-Assessment Inventory outlines the major areas of competence an effective supervisor must have. The competency areas are sub-divided into categories which correspond to the major functions supervisors perform. Its primary use is as a self-assessment tool. Individuals are encouraged to use it to assess their competence and performance as supervisors and use the results to develop a plan for improvement. This Inventory can also be used as a guide to curriculum development for Supervisory Training, using the components as the basis for a needs assessment exercise. [purpose]

Clinical Supervision in the Workplace: Guidance for Occupational Nurses

This leaflet has been designed as an introduction to clinical supervision. It aims to stimulate ideas and to encourage occupational health nurses to set up supervision practice in their workplaces. Clinical supervision isn’t a management tool, but can be used as a support and prompt to professional practice in a creative way. [from introduction]

Maximizing Access and Quality through Management and Supervision

The objectives of this presentation are to provide participants with an understanding of the role of leaders and managers in promoting quality services and to have participants identify action steps/interventions to promote quality at different levels of the health system. [from author’s description]

Participatory Supervision with Provider Self-Assessment Improves Doctor-Patient Communication in Rural Mexico

In this setting, physicians were already making site visits to clinics to monitor technical standards of care. An intervention was designed to reinforce doctors’ interpersonal communication (IPC) training. Under the intervention, doctors received IPC job aids, self-assessment forms, and tape recorders. They taped themselves during consultations and assessed their skills from the recordings, using the forms and in consultation with their supervisors. The self-assessment form and the supervisor assessment form were modified to be reproduced in this report. [publisher’s description]

Family Planning Manager's Handbook

The Family Planning Manager’s Handbook is a standard text in management training courses around the world and has received wide recognition as a practical guide for managers of health and family planning programs. [publisher’s description]

Impact of Supervision on Stock Management and Adherence to Treatment Guidelines: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Ensuring the availability of essential drugs and using them appropriately are crucial if limited resources for health care are to be used optimally. While training of health workers throughout Zimbabwe in drug management (including stock management and rational drug use) resulted in significant improvements in a variety of drug use indicators, these achievements could not be sustained, and a new strategy was introduced based on the supervision of primary health care providers.