Clinical supervision and managerial supervision: some historical and conceptual considerations

The current lack of consensus among authors in the United Kingdom on the concept of clinical supervision continues unabated, although enthusiasm for its implementation is being questioned by those who would be supervised. The literature now reports confusion among practitioners on the differences between clinical and managerial supervision, and supervision and therapy. This paper addresses the differences between clinical and managerial supervision by revealing nursing's history of clinical supervision. It is argued that until the current underlying conceptual ambiguities are identified and corrected, clinical supervision remains at risk of deteriorating into managerial supervision.