Aim

In the absence of a consensus on what competences are necessary for Clinical Supervision in nursing, this paper presents such a framework on the Knowledge, Attitudes and Skills approach.

Data Sources

Clinical Supervision literature published from 1996 to 2012 was searched using CINAHL, Medline, Psychlit and British Nursing Index followed by a manual scrutiny of relevant text books.

Findings

Our review identified a variety of knowledge, attitudes and skills that have been identified as parts, potentially of a competency ‘framework’.

Discussion

1) The absence of consensus of Clinical Supervision competencies in nursing can be addressed by embracing the Knowledge, Attitude and Skills approach and undertaking an international Delphi study based on this framework; 2) competency models must include attention to the acquisition and/or development of required qualities, 3) it appears that competencies are being advanced for radically different degrees of Clinical Supervisor (and supervisee) preparation/practice.