[External supervision in psychiatry]

The necessity and the problems of external supervision in psychiatry are explained. Therefore important aspects of the current discussion are reported, especially questions of conception and definition. External supervision that is professional help by persons with institutional independence. Not least in this way it is possible to consider the level of personal and individual relationship in clinical teams while problems of co-operation and effectiveness should be solved. This is a special style to improve quality in team-work. Some possibilities of those supervisions are mentioned. In this context experiences of the own hospital are presented.