title: Juggling the dual role of practitioner and educator: practice teachers' perceptions.
abstract: This paper reports on a study exploring the role (caseload manager; practitioner; educator) of Specialist Community Public Health Nursing (SCPHN) Practice Teachers (PTs) and mentors for Specialist Practice Community (SPC) district nursing students. Methodological triangulation was used, comprising questionnaires completed by 15 PTs and mentors, followed by six semistructured interviews, to provide quantitative and qualitative data. The results of the study identify that post-registration students demanded considerable time due to their need to develop leadership and higher cognitive skills in practice. PTs and mentors identified feeling undervalued by the organisation and colleagues as they tried to maintain their dual role with limited time or resources allocated. Respondents reported that they often worked over their hours to maintain both roles which impacted on their work life balance. They reported that both peer and university support groups were valuable and suggested that increased contact from lecturers and greater flexibility in university courses would accommodate their continuing professional development. It is, therefore, concluded that further support is needed by both the organisation and the university to enable this dual role.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community and Child Health, University of Chester. h.carr@chester.ac.uk
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Carr
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gidman
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008611:Mentors; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D013041:Specialties, Nursing; D013222:State Medicine; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires