The potential for lecturer practitioners in primary care

Abstract

The lecturer practitioner role was developed in order to integrate theory and practice in nurse education and to bridge the perceived 'theory-practice gap' between what students learnt in the classroom and what they actually experienced in clinical practice. Primary care is experiencing a gap between the theory or rhetoric of Government policy and the practice of health care delivery. A reorientation of primary care is needed but community nursing, in its present form, appears unable to effect this. The lecturer practitioner role has been experimented with in a variety of clinical settings — primary care is one of these. Recent evaluations at local and national level suggest that lecturer practitioners combine their teaching and clinical skills and intra- and interprofessional communication skills with clinical academic credibility. This unique combination of skills and credibility is particularly needed within community nursing and primary care. Joint role planning, shared definitions of the role, agreement as to its scope and preset outcome criteria are prerequisites for lecturer practitioner success. Lecturer practitioner roles are uniquely suited to primary care and it is now time to develop them further within this context.