title: The clinical role of the nurse teacher: a review of the dispute.
abstract: Although clinical education has been acknowledged as being the 'heart' of all nursing education programmes, the role of the nurse teacher in relation to the clinical learning experience of the student nurse is an area of long-standing confusion and dispute. This unresolved problem has led to the lack of a concerted effort in the provision of educational input in the clinical area and the quality of patient care is indirectly being affected. This paper presents a comprehensive review of this dispute, with an attempt to unravel how the debate could be moved forward. It is found that the clinical role of the nurse teacher appears to be implicit and 'hidden', resulting in a wide difference in the interpretation of the extent, purpose and nature of that role. The controversies surrounding these issues were then traced and possible directions for future research are outlined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D009734:Nursing Faculty Practice; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D012380:Role