Clinical support roles: a review of the literature.

It is widely acknowledged in the literature that the amalgamation of theory with practice is crucial to the development of competent practitioners. The United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting [United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting 1986. Project 2000: A new preparation for practice. United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, London] and An Bord Altranais [An Bord Altranais, 2000b. Requirements and standards for Nurse Registration Education Programme. second ed., An Bord Altranais, Dublin] acknowledge that in order to facilitate nursing students to make this vital link, support structures in terms of designated personnel in the clinical area are required. This has resulted in the emergence of a diverse range of designated clinical personnel with varying titles and responsibilities. It is timely given the current constrained economic climate, recruitment and retention difficulties and persisting theory-practice gap to consider the efficacy of past and current post-holders from the perspective of various stake-holders before any further posts are developed. The remit of this paper is to present such a review and advance a number of recommendations that could augment the effectiveness of current support roles.