The lecturer practitioner in cancer nursing: ideal role or impossible dream?

In the light of recent educational reforms in the UK, such as the introduction of Project 2000, the Post Registration Education and Practice Project, and also the United Kingdom Central Council guidelines for specialist and advanced practice, there is greater scope than ever before for nurses wishing to pursue careers without leaving clinical practice behind.

This paper explores the role of the lecturer practitioner within the context of cancer nursing. An outline of the relevant literature is reviewed, and the case for the evolution of clinical nurse specialists into lecturer practitioners is presented. The findings of a pilot survey of nurses' perceptions of the lecturer practitioner role is also discussed, and implications are drawn for future studies, and for the future of the lecturer practitioner role.