Educational Supervisor Feedback 2014/2015

Background

In an effort to increase the quality of educational supervision, the Peninsula Foundation School seeks feedback from foundation trainees about their experience of educational supervision. The role of the educational supervisor is key to the success of the programme and the aims of collecting trainee feedback are to identify the quality of supervision that is being provided, understand any obstacles to a good experience of supervision, enable educational supervisors to benchmark their own performance, highlight good practice and support educational supervisors who are finding it difficult to fulfil the role.

An individual supervisor’s report is prepared only when feedback is received from more than one trainee. The individual supervisor reports are sent to the relevant trust Foundation Programme Training Directors (FPTDs) to forward to the supervisor with an invitation to discuss the report and any support needed.

All Foundation trainees in the Peninsula were asked to complete an on-line feedback form about their 2014/2015 educational supervision (Appendix 1) . A link to the form was sent via email with the end of post survey request, after the sign off process had been completed. The feedback from F1s and F2s has been combined. Free text comments are reported in Appendix 2.

Cohort

205 F1s and 206 F2s were in post at the end of the year and therefore able to comment on their educational supervision experience during the year. Their experiences related to 186 supervisors across 5 trusts in the Peninsula.

Results

329 Foundation trainees responded: an overall response rate of 80%. This is the highest response since the process began in 2008. Trust response rates varied – the highest was 89% from North Devon and the lowest was 76% from Exeter. Table 1 shows the response rates for all Foundation trainees by Trust.

90% of supervisors received at least one trainee response to the survey and sufficient feedback was received for 49% of supervisors to have an individual report. Since the exercise started in 2008, 77% of supervisors have now received an individual report.

Table 1: Response to survey by Trust

Trust	Total
Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust	33 (89%)
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust	91 (77%)
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust	84 (82%)
Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust	59 (75%)
South Devon Healthcare NHS Trust	62 (84%)
Total	329 (80%)

 

Q1. How many face-to-face meetings did you have with your educational supervisor this year?
Trainees are expected to meet with their supervisors on at least 4 occasions. The mean number of meetings per year was 5.
44 (13%) trainees met fewer than 4 times in the year while 195 (59%) met 5 times or more. Chart 1 shows the number of educational supervision meetings reported by trainees.

Chart 1: Number of face to face meetings with educational supervisors

Q2. On average, how long did each of these meetings take?
For 49% of trainees, meetings lasted between 15-30 minutes. 10% of trainees had meetings that lasted 15 minutes or less. The length of meetings is shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Length of meetings

15 minutes or less	15 - 30 minutes	30 - 45 minutes	45 minutes - 1 hour	More than an hour
33 (10%)	160 (49%)	97 (29%)	37 (11%)	2 (1%)

 

Q3. Was the length of your meetings a) too short, b) about right or c) too long?
97.5% of trainees thought the length of their meetings was about right with 1% reporting they thought their meetings were too long and 1.5% thought their meetings were too short. Table 3 shows the length of meeting reported by trainees.

Table 3: Length of meetings

Too short	About right	Too long
5 (1.5%)	321 (97.5%)	3 (1%)

 

Q4. Overall, how do you rate the educational supervision you received this year?
85% of trainees rated their educational supervision as good or excellent, 13% rated it as okay and 1% as poor. The overall ratings by trainees are shown in Table 4a.

Table 4a: Trainees overall ratings of their educational supervision

Don’t think I received any	Received it but thought it was POOR	Received it and thought it was OKAY	Received it and thought it was GOOD	Received it and  thought it was EXCELLENT
3 (1%)	4 (1%)	43 (13%)	128 (39%)	151 (46%)

Table 4b below shows the proportion of trainees who rated their supervision as good or excellent over the last 6 years.

Table 4b: Overall ratings of supervision over the last 6 years

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/2014	2014/2015
Good / Excellent	83%	87%	87%	87%	86%	85%

 

Q5. Were you happy with the educational supervisor you were given this year?
317 (96%) of trainees said that they were happy with the educational supervisor they were allocated this year.

The 12 trainees who were unhappy with their supervisor were asked what action (if any) they took to change to another supervisor. 2 trainees did not realise they could change their supervisor, 2 trainees only experienced difficulties with their supervisor at the end of the year, 1 trainee was offered an alternative who was a colleague of their supervisor and felt it was inappropriate, 1 trainee’s supervisor left the trust so was assigned a new one, 1 has now changed for F2 and 4 trainees took no action.

Q6. The qualities of educational supervisors
Trainees were asked to rate their educational supervisors with regard to certain qualities, attitudes and skills. Trainees were asked to rate ‘Not applicable’ only if they did not seek that aspect of supervision from their educational supervisor.

The qualities of educational supervisor results are shown in the charts below.

 

Comparison of results from 2008 – 2014

The feedback exercise has been completed for seven consecutive years. Table 5 below shows the comparative findings about the benchmarked supervision experience over the last seven cohorts. The modal (most frequent) response has been taken as the benchmark.

Table 5: Comparison of trainee feedback over seven years

	2008/2009	2009/2010	2010/2011	2011/2012	2012/2013	2013/2014	2014/2015
Response rate	67%	48%	62%	70%	70%	79%	80%
How many face to face meetings did you have?	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
On average, how long was each meeting?	15-30 mins	15-30mins	15-30 mins	15-30 mins	15-30 mins	15 – 30 mins	15 – 30 mins
Was the length of your meetings; a) too short, b) about right, c) too long?	About right	About right	About right	About right	About right	About right	About right
Over all, how do you rate your supervision	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Educational Supervisor ratings
Availability	Good	Good	Good	Excellent	Good	Excellent	Excellent
Responsiveness (to contact)	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Interest in you as an individual	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Understood foundation trainee needs	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Was a good listener	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Helped identify learning needs	Good	Good	Excellent	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Helped find ways to meet learning needs	Good	Good	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Ability to give constructive feedback	Good	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Commitment to task of being educational supervisor	Okay	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Was up to date with foundation matters	Okay	Good	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Ability to provide career advice	Good	Excellent	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Ability to provide pastoral support	Good	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent

 

Summary and conclusions

80% of Foundation trainees provided feedback about the educational supervision they received in 2014/2015 which is the highest response recorded since the feedback began.

This year’s findings are consistent with previous years; average number of meeting per trainee was 5 which lasted 15-30 minutes. 85% of trainees rated their supervisors as good or excellent overall.

The trainees rated their supervisors in a number of domains and 84% were rated as good or excellent in all domains. The benchmark for educational supervision remains at its highest level with the most frequent rating being excellent for all domains. ‘Ability to give careers advice’ and ‘Being up to date with foundation matters’ continue to be areas where some supervisors would benefit from some further training, although it may be more reasonable to expect supervisors to be able to signpost to careers advice rather than provide it in all cases.

Feedback from trainees over the last 7 years indicates that a very good experience of educational supervision can be expected as the norm. While any individual supervisor may have some variability in their feedback over years, a consistent rating of Okay or less is atypical and raises the questions of how to improve or whether to continue in the role. It’s recommended that results should be reviewed further to identify if there are individual Educational Supervisors who are consistently rated less than good overall.

Since the exercise started in 2007/2008, 77% of supervisors have received at least one individual report. This number has decreased by 1% in the last year but this can be explained by the number of new supervisors in the role and the proportion of supervisors who only supervise one trainee per year so will need to wait for results from future years to be amalgamated. 49% will receive an individual report from 2014/2015.

Natalie Band
Foundation School Administrator
October 2015

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Appendix 1 - Educational Supervision Feedback Form

Educational Supervision Feedback Form 

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Appendix 2 - Additional Comments by Foundation Trainees

A busy doctor who made the time to get to know me and to listen to how things were going. A pragmatic person with helpful suggestions on how to troubleshoot issues I had and was available to meet regularly. The best supervisor I have had so far in my medical school/foundation training.
A fantastic supervisor who has offered amazing support throughout the year.
A great ed supervisor
A very able, organised and supportive supervisor. Thank you!
Able to see the relative issues in both the post and the year as a whole. Very approachable, and interested in the 360-degree aspects of being an Educational Supervisor
Admitted it would be more useful to have had a surgeon for this year when applying to surgical training but the system doesn't allow it.
Always open and chatty, felt able to discuss any concerns.
Amazing supervisor. Constructive criticism Helpful advice at all times Always attentive and supportive
An excellent Educational Supervisor
An excellent supervisor who was supportive
Approachable and helpful, no issues.
Approachable and thorough. An excellent supervisor who has engaged fully with the supervision process.
Available to complete the necessary meetings and forms. Not particularly personable though and sometimes had a lack of awareness of the e-portfolio requirements I had to meet.
Could not have wished for a better educational supervisor in my first year of work as a doctor. Very highly recommended.
An outstanding educational supervisor throughout my first foundation year.
An amazing doctor and I was very lucky to have them as my educational supervisor for 2 years. They have helped me a lot over the past 2 years and has always been there if and when I need them. I could not have asked for a better educational supervisor. An enthusiastic, inspiring and very caring consultant and I was very lucky to have them. Has taught me a lot which I will take with me as I progress throughout my career.
A great educational supervisor this year - I have switched from my planned F2 in Barnstaple to Plymouth and hope I may continue to have them as my supervisor for F2- a great clinician to learn from, approachable and genuinely interested as an educational supervisor.
A fantastic educational supervisor.
Always available and willing to help - was a good supervisor
An excellent educational supervisor for the past two years.
An excellent Educational supervisor who was very supportive over my 2 year LTFT F1. Always had suggestions on how to help me along with my training and e-portfolio
A helpful, constructive, friendly, up-to-date Supervisor who is actually interested in trainees’ development as a junior doctor.
A fantastic educational supervisor. Got to know us all as individuals and made the effort. Always made the meetings and set aside appropriate amount of time. They have been encouraging throughout the year and very supportive. The best way to start foundation year!
Excellent Educational Supervisor - provided great support and advice relating to both my clinical and educational development. Very easy to talk to and very accessible - I had no difficulty organising meetings.
Excellent supervision, always available to listen, support and give good advice
Excellent supervisor
Excellent supervisor - no complaints. Thanks for all your help.
Exceptional and highly recommended educational supervisor. Thank you.
Extremely good educational supervision Very available and willing to discuss any problems or concerns or comments Very supportive
Fantastic support - thank you!!
Friendly and approachable
Generally good support throughout, many thanks
Generally very supportive, friendly and approachable
Good supervisor, I would recommend to other F1s
Great supervisor. Made F1 year less intimidating!
Excellent - I felt really lucky to have had them as my supervisor
Very encouraging with anything positive but received a letter of complaint from another consultant about me not completing a drug chart for a patient. I had to meet on my day off and ended up spending the whole day waiting for the meeting. I felt they had already made their mind up that I had done something wrong without hearing my recollection of events. It turned out I saw the patient on nights and had no way of knowing what medications he was on to complete the drug chart. I felt unsupported and I haven't been able to approach my ES with other more serious problems and concerns I've had. I think they are an amazing ed supervisor when things are going well but maybe not as approachable or supportive when things aren't going well.
I am very grateful to ES for being a committed and excellent ES with a real interest in me as a trainee. ES was very approachable and generous with his time. Thank you.
I am very pleased with ES! Great supervisor for my educational and personal needs!
I cannot rate ES highly enough as an educational supervisor. Always has time, listens to issues, provides excellent advice. At times FY1 has been challenging for me and I always left meetings with ES re-inspired and smiling again!
I could not have asked for any other educational supervisor. ES is a good listener, always available and willing to encourage and support. It was a pleasure to have as my supervisor and I do wish them the very best!
I could not have hoped for a better educational supervisor, nor one more appropriate to my individual needs as a trainee.
I felt very supported. Gave me good constructive feedback and re-enforced good feedback I received.
I really enjoyed having ES as my supervisor and any new F1 doctor would be greatly advantaged having them as a supervisor
I really liked that it felt like my educational supervisor listened to what I had to say and also remembered some of the different things which I had discussed in previous meetings so that they could be developed throughout the year.
I think the educational supervisor is most important to struggling trainees, if you are getting on OK then not much input is needed from supervisors as its fairly easy to get a grasp on what you need to be doing and how to best go about it
I went on maternity leave past way through this year so I don't think the number of meetings or interaction actually reflects what I would have had over a year. What I did get though was excellent. I think it would be unfair to include these responses in statistics or feedback without qualification that this was only over 6 months.
I wish ES all the best with his retirement. I look forward to learning more ED procedures with them while he does the occasional locum shift and I am an SHO in December. This was when I feel ES was at their best in an educational role - even if this wasn't relevant to the supervisor role.
It is very difficult to give negative feedback on a senior supervisor - as I am this ES's only trainee it will be fairly obvious if this is fed back directly to them that it came from me. Overall I feel that this ES is not suitable due to disinterest in the role, lack of familiarity or knowledge in using the e-portfolio and helping me meet my educational needs for successful ARCP sign off at the end of the year. My ES was a capable clinician and a friendly person, however I would strongly recommend they be offered the opportunity to withdraw from supervision.
It may have been nice to have more/longer meetings, however consultants are very busy people! I am sure that if I had tried to set up more meetings, my supervisor would have been more than happy to find time for these.
It was a pleasure to have an inspiring cardiologist as an educational supervisor
ES has encouraged and supported me throughout my F2 year and has helped me to grow as a doctor. ES has always been available when I have needed to meet. Thank you!
Made me feel like I had someone to support me professionally and that I could discuss any issues regarding work with.
Many thanks!
Minimal input. Sometimes a challenge to arrange meetings/get forms filled out
ES was an excellent educational supervisor who was always available when needed throughout the whole year. Gave me sound advice and without doubt helped me get through my year as an FY2.
ES was excellent, and I really appreciate their help with everything.
ES was a good educational supervisor. Easy to book appointments with, as long as this was done in good time. Took an interest in my professional development and pastoral wellbeing. Was open and honest in meetings but never critical without constructive comments. I would be happy to have ES as a supervisor in the future.
My educational supervisor was excellent. Went out of the way to be helpful, stayed late to discuss my progress whenever I needed advice, was a mentor and a great friend. Listened to me and guided me throughout the year. I believe ES should be recognised for the dedication to his role, exceptional mentoring skills and outstanding pastoral care. I am a better trainee and a better person as a result of the advice, support and guidance.
My supervisor asked me what goals I had, and helped to address my learning needs. Was very straight forward and to the point, which worked well for me.
My thanks - a very good educational supervisor.
No concerns, would highly recommend
Overall good educational supervisor, thank you for all your help
Overall very good supervisor
Overall, fantastic supervisor, highly recommend to any trainee.
An excellent educational supervisor. Knew exactly what I needed to achieve to pass foundation year one and was very helpful at making sure I had done everything in good time. Was also very supportive and listened to any concerns and helped with career advice. Was very enthusiastic and encouraging.
Really approachable.
Really got on well with my ES and always found them very approachable and enthusiastic. Luckily, I haven't really had any issues this year that I have needed a lot of help with, but I am sure that if I had done they would have been an excellent support and very much there for me.
So glad I had ES, really outstanding support and guidance from them this year, thank you.
Supportive and reassuring. Always seemed interested and was very available and accessible.
Thank you for all the help!
Thank you for your help this year!
Thank you for all your support.
Thank you, excellent educational supervisor
Thank you very much for a great year!
Thank you very much for your support over the past two years
Thank you.
I feel very lucky to have had you as my educational supervisor for my first year as a doctor and really appreciate the time you took to meet with me throughout the year.
Thanks very much for all your help and support
There seemed to be too much focus on form filling and this took up the majority of the meeting time.
Very available and interested despite being busy with job. Up to date with requirements of portfolio. Overall a great supervisor thanks.
Very good educational supervisor- available when needed, able to answer and questions, very helpful
Very good educational supervisor, thank you!
Very good ES for all of above reasons.
Very happy
Very Pleasant, Very Funny, though perhaps not as funny as they think ;) Took a genuine interest in me my work and personal life Ideal supervisor for aspiring Surgeon
Very pleased with my educational supervisor this year and in particular the caring and helpful attitude (which, from informal chat with other trainees, seems not to be universal).
Very slow releasing TABS - I still haven’t had any of my TABS from this year released despite a number of emails asking for this so haven’t been able to view any of my feedback from staff members throughout the year
Very supportive throughout the year
Very supportive throughout year, always willing to have extra meetings when I was having difficulties. Very helpful with regards to portfolio.
Very supportive, constructive and approachable supervisor
Was firmly in my corner and took an interest
What would be helpful as this was the first year of me using a e-portfolio, is having a check list for each meeting with the educational supervisor, as the supervisor forms only apply if you know where to find them. Each supervisor should receive a hard copy prior to their meeting so that they and the foundation trainee know what needs to be done, as I had to have 2 meetings for the end of year meeting as the end of year report made no mention about the curriculum items that needed reviewing.

 

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