Performing dual roles in education and practice
Intended for healthcare professionals
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Performing dual roles in education and practice

Natasha Hackett Adult nursing lecturer, nursing studies, University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich
Jane Harvey-Lloyd Associate professor, diagnostic radiography, University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich
Nickey Rooke Senior lecturer, adult nursing, University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich

Experiences of lecturers who also work as clinicians: a literature review and study

Aim To examine the benefits and challenges of dual posts, defined here as lecturers who work in clinical practice and have separate contracts with different organisations.

Methods A case study approach was used to collate different perspectives. Equal numbers of participants were selected from lecturers (n=3) and dual post holders (n= 3), and one manager was included (n=1). Semi-structured interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim to collect data. Key words were identified then highlighted throughout the transcripts and text retrievers searched the large amounts of data gathered. Key words were grouped into multiple sub-themes, which were then further grouped into four themes.

Findings Four main themes emerged from the data: duality, theory/practice, credibility and student experience. Some benefits and challenges of dual posts were identified. Benefits included helping students contextualise theory into practice and maintaining currency in practice. Challenges were maintaining a multifaceted role and managing expectations in both roles.

Conclusion Dual post holders are regarded as an important part of the team by all stakeholders involved in this study. However, more clarification about the expectations of each role is required and post holders should have more support from their organisations.

Nursing Management. 23, 3, 31-37. doi: 10.7748/nm.23.3.31.s28

Correspondence

n.hackett@ucs.ac.uk

Peer review

This article has been subject to double-blind review and has been checked using antiplagiarism software

Conflict of interest

None declared

Received: 02 February 2016

Accepted: 07 April 2016

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