Should the educational supervisor be medically qualified? Inviting a debate.

摘要

The emerging evidence on educational supervision (ES), although small, points towards specific personal qualities that are required to become an effective educational supervisor (Kilminster et al. 2007). Interestingly, none of the qualities described like commitment, motivation, counselling and listening skills and self-awareness are in any significant way related to the medical knowledge or technical skills of the trainer supervisor. If this data is correct, and there is no reason to suspect otherwise, it raises the question - should the educational supervisor be medically qualified? It also brings up a fundamental issue about ES; whether the process is a generic educational task or the one that requires the supervisor to have gone through the same or similar medical training to the trainees.