The role of professional supervision for palliative care doctors in New Zealand: a quantitative survey of attitudes and experiences.

Professional supervision (PS), a collaborative relationship that promotes reflection on contextualised work-related issues for the benefit of ongoing learning and development and improved professional practice, is not well understood in the medical context. This study aimed to explore the attitudes and experiences of PS among doctors working in palliative care in New Zealand.Eighty members of the Australia New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine (ANZSPM) participated in a cross-sectional quantitative survey.Overall, PS was felt to be important, particularly by those currently participating in PS, for enhancing clinical functioning and supporting doctors' wellbeing. Barriers to undertaking PS included finding a supervisor, lack of funding and time, with the most significant factor being whether the workplace supported PS. Supervisees' responses showed PS to be a safe experience, addressing a wide range of issues, with a positive effect on personal coping.Despite identified barriers, New Zealand-based palliative care doctors reported PS to be important and beneficial both personally and professionally. Further consideration should include the impact of professional and organisational culture on uptake of PS, future research and acknowledgment that palliative medicine may be in a position to highlight the benefits of PS for the wider medical community.