Working in the theory–practice gap: the lecturer practitioner's story

Narrowing the theory–practice gap through clinical education of pre-registration nurses is of international importance. Difficulties arising from supervising students in clinical education have been reported in Nepal, Hong Kong and Turkey and different countries also make various provisions for pre-registration clinical experience. In the UK, pre-registration nursing education standards and course content equip nurses to practice safely and are defined in statute. Students spend 50% of the course in clinical practice where they apply theoretical concepts under the guidance of a mentor, lecturer practitioner (LP) and link tutor.

This paper presents the results of the first phase of a three-phase study, which sought to explore differences between mentors, LPs and link tutors and how they work together to enable pre-registration nursing students to integrate theory and practice. The aim of this phase of the study was to explore how LP roles were implemented across the study area and how they worked with mentors and link tutors to enable students to integrate theory and practice.

Eleven semistructured interviews of LPs were conducted. The constant comparison method was used to analyse the data. Three themes emerged from the data — participants’ perceptions of their role and how they relate to others (a foot in both camps); participants’ concern to fit students for practice (look at it the right way); participants’ perceptions of how their work could be enhanced (making the job better). This paper discusses these three themes in relation to how the LP role differs from that of mentors and link tutors and how they work together to facilitate theory/practice integration in pre-registration nursing students.