Recognising innovation in clinical supervision education and training

An innovative clinical supervision education program, based at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne (SVHM), has won the Victorian Public Healthcare Award for Celebrating a Strong and Sustainable Workforce.

Mary-Anne Thomas, Victorian Minister for Health, with Jade Murphy and Fiona McKinnon at the awards ceremony. Jade is holding the award, which is a framed certificate. There is a blue lit curtain in the background.

Pictured: Mary-Anne Thomas, Victorian Minister for Health, Jade Murphy, General Manager Education and Learning, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and Fiona McKinnon, Chief Allied Health Officer, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.

Part of the Victorian Government's ‘Boosting Our Healthcare Workforce Program’, the ‘Boosting Clinical Supervision Capability Project’was recognised for its successful three-tier professional development program, comprising a foundational self-paced online course for clinical supervisors; online and concerns-based interprofessional learning communities; and support for clinical supervisors’ engagement in a Graduate Certificate in Clinical Education.

Developed by St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne,in partnership with the University of Melbourne and the Melbourne Academic Centre for Health, the projectwas designed to build excellence in clinical supervision, improve the educational practice of frontline clinical supervisors and cultivate educational leadership. The program was shown to be effective in strengthening workforce capacity and capability by enabling frontline clinical supervisors to engage in rich, interprofessional, practice-based learning.

Building on success of this program, the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (MDHS) recently launched the Melbourne Academy of Clinical Educators (Melbourne ACE), a bold new initiative to develop and recognise excellence in clinical education to optimise student learning and patient care. Melbourne ACE will provide professional learning opportunities at the levels of Foundations, Extension and Advancement and will offer recognition of excellence and contributions through a new fellowship program.

Speaking about the success, Professor Liz Molloy, MDHS Deputy Dean Education, who was part of the project team, said, “Our community needs a strong, integrated, well-supported, healthcare workforce. Excellent clinical placement experiences for students at all levels of training are central to the development and ongoing performance of this workforce. This award is a wonderful recognition of this innovative program to support excellence in clinical supervision. The partnership between SVHM, University of Melbourne and MACH was central to the design, implementation and evaluation. Another key part of the learning design was the bringing together of clinicians across all the disciplines, rather than educating in silos. It’s like channelling fresh rivers into a stagnant pond. Congratulations to everyone involved, and to all winners of the 2024 Victorian Public Healthcare Awards.”

You can read the full list of Victorian Public Healthcare Award recipients here.