Group supervision as a means of developing professional competence within pre-hospital care

Background: Ambulance care has its foundations in experience-based knowledge relating to the care provider's flexibility and humility in the encounter with patients. The group supervision model used in this study is retrospective and experience orientated and it is designed to promote and develop the group's overall competence by facilitating the group process, as well as extending and improving levels of professional knowledge.

Aim: The aim was to evaluate the experience of group supervision and to explore its impact on the participants' personal and professional development.

Method: This study uses an inductive qualitative approach where data collection was performed in the form of a focus group interview and analysed by a model of content analysis.

Conclusion: Group supervision appears to have had a positive impact on the participants' personal and professional development. The structure of the model appears to make it easier for the inexperienced co-worker more rapidly to develop expertise within his/her working area, which can be seen as an important tool in today's financially focused and time-pressurised health-care service. It is to be hoped that the results of this study will interest health managers and encourage them to consider group supervision as a tool for professional development not only within the area of the ambulance service.