Dietitians and supervision: should we be doing more?

As the role of the dietitian has expanded over recent years, many are becoming increasingly involved in the care and management of vulnerable individuals, both alone and as part of multidisciplinary teams. This raises an important question – how are we as a profession managing our changing role in the health care setting? The advent of Clinical Governance means there is a need for dietitians to join the debate on the issue of supervision, which has been raging in the nursing and other health professions over recent years. This article attempts to define the terms supervision and clinical supervision both globally and in the context of dietetics, to describe models of clinical supervision being used in other professional groups and to put forward a framework for addressing whether there is a need for clinical supervision in all areas of dietetic practice.