Clinical supervisor in a medium-complexity hospital: viewpoint of Nutrition and Dietetics students

Introduction: The importance of clinical supervisors in the training process of future health professionals is evident. Objective: To know the opinion of the Nutrition and Dietetics students from the Autonomous University of Chile-Temuco regarding the role of clinical supervisors from the Internal Medicine Service of the Dr. Dino Stagno Hospital in the professional practice with adults. Materials and methods: Qualitative, descriptive and interpretative research carried out through an intrinsic case study using a nonprobabilistic and intentional sample. An interview was applied for data collection after obtaining a signed informed consent. Data analysis followed a progressive reduction scheme and validation was made using rigor and triangulation criteria according to the researchers. Results: 105 units of analysis allowed obtaining four categories: factors that hinder the development of the practice (31); factors that favor the development of the practice (30); experience acquired during practice (28), and achievement of program objectives during the practice (16). Finally, a qualitative domain was obtained. Conclusions: Developing professional practice in the adult Internal Medicine Service is a positive experience for students since it allows them to develop self-learning skills, acquire other kinds of skills and achieve the objectives of medical internship. Human resources in hospitals are a favoring factor, and the absence and scarce communication with the university supervisor is an impeding factor.