Exploring sonographer emotional wellbeing: NHS sonographers’ experience of the restorative function of professional supervision

REVIEWED BY Emma Jardine | ASA SIG: Health and Wellbeing

REFERENCE | Authors: Carr R & White H

The survey was performed to review the sonographer’s experience of professional supervision and how effective it is at maintaining the emotional wellbeing of sonographers.
The authors review the impact of the need for emotional support for sonographers and consequently the impact on patient care.

An online cross-sectional descriptive survey was performed.
The survey focused on National Health Service (NHS) sonographers in the United Kingdom and asked questions about the sonographer’s experience of professional supervision.
A total of 32 participants were included in the survey.

Retention of sonographers and burnout figures may improve with more systems put in place that support the emotional wellbeing of sonographers.

The study identified that the main barriers to effective supervision were time to provide it and practitioner workload.
The results found that sonographers need emotional support with 50% of sonographers feeling unsupported.
The potential for burnout was identified. The factors that were attributed to burnout included staff shortages and workload. There was also a potential for burnout among the obstetric sonographers in delivering unexpected news.
The survey found that sonographers valued peer-to-peer group support where members of the team shared experiences to provide emotional support to each other.

The impact of poor emotional resilience among healthcare workers has a direct correlation to standards of patient care.
There is a link between supporting staff through formal supervision and improving the quality of care for patients.
This study highlights the need to create a robust supervision model to better support staff who need emotional wellbeing support.
The restorative function of clinical supervision focuses on supporting sonographers’ emotional wellbeing through discussing difficulties being faced as a consequence of their work.
The aim of this function is to negate the impact of emotional burden by finding coping mechanisms that the individual sonographers would best respond to.
This will lead to better-supported staff and may aid in the retention of sonographers who are feeling burnout.
The key factors to help sonographers feel supported within their practice included managing the environment and workload and ensuring opportunities for peer support.