Cost and resource implications of clinical supervision in nursing: an Australian perspective

AIM: The aim of this article was to explore the resource and management issues in introducing and maintaining a clinical supervision programme for nurses. BACKGROUND: A number of federal, state and non-governmental agency reports have recently indicted the quality of present-day mental health service provision in Australia. Clinical supervision in nursing has been widely embraced in many parts of the developed world, as a positive contribution to the clinical governance agenda, but remains largely underdeveloped in Australia. METHOD: Using data derived from several empirical clinical supervision research studies conducted in mental health nursing settings, preliminary financial modelling has provided new information for Nurse Managers, about the material implications of implementing clinical supervision. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS: It is suggested that, on average, the cost of giving peer group one-to-one supervision to any nurse represented about 1% of an annual salary. When interpreted as a vanishingly small cap on clinical nursing practice necessary to reap demonstrable benefits, it behoves Nurse Managers to comprehend clinical supervision as bona fide nursing work, not an activity which is separate from nursing work.