An evaluation of lecturer practitioners in Ireland.
Nursing continues to struggle to integrate the theoretical and clinical aspects of nurse education for the development of competent practitioners. Collaborative approaches to nurse education as well as the development of joint clinical-academic roles have had questionable success to date on merging the theoretical and clinical components of nursing. Lecturer practitioners' posts are new in Ireland. These posts were created as nurse educators were cognizant of the need for students to integrate theory to practice. The aim of the lecturer practitioner role was to increase the support for student nurses in both academia and practice. An evaluation of the impact of the lecturer practitioner role from three key perspectives was conducted in three Irish teaching hospitals in 2007. The results of this study suggest that as lecturer practitioners have both a clinical and academic remit they can integrate theory to practice through collaborative practice.
Hartigan
Irene
I
Catherine McAuley School of Nursing and Midwifery, Brookfield Health Sciences Complex, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. i.hartigan@ucc.ie
Cummins
Ann
A
O'Connell
Elizabeth
E
Hughes
Mary
M
Hayes
Claire C
CC
Noonan
Brendan
B
Fehin
Patricia
P
D000328:Adult; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D008297:Male; D024802:Nurse's Role; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods; D055815:Young Adult