The quality of interaction between Public Health Nursing Sister and Public Health Midwife during supervision in Maternal and Child Health Care settings in Sri Lanka

Objective To measure the quality of interaction between the Public Health Nursing Sister (PHNS) and the Public Health Midwife (PHM) during supervision.

Methods This was a cross-sectional study, using triangulation of data obtained from structured observations and audio tape records of supervisor-supervisee interactions and written records of all supervision activities. Twenty four PHNS participated in the study. This study was undertaken in the district of Kalutara.

Results Supervisors spent less time on supervising client care issues than on supervising facility level issues and interacting with clients. The weakest skills among the PHNS were ‘seeking client input’ and ‘discussing the next visit’ and the strongest skills were ‘giving feedback’, ‘discussing/interpreting data’ and ‘developing rapport’. Skills of supervision increased with the service duration of the PHNS but none were able to achieve the cut-off mark for satisfactory overall quality of interaction.

Conclusions This study indicates that the overall quality of interaction between the PHNS and the PHM during supervision was poor. PHNS lacked skills in prioritisation of supervision activities and time management. They also lacked other necessary skills that ensure a higher quality of PHNS-PHM interaction.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/jpgim.7607

Journal of the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine 2014;1(1):E6:1-9