Advanced clinical roles: investigating dilemmas and changing practice through action research

Summary

• ? A new career structure for clinical nurses was implemented in 1987 in Victoria with the intention of providing clinical advancement and material rewards for nurses in clinical settings.
• ? This paper explains how participatory action research was used to explore some of the issues inherent in the role of the associate charge nurse.
• ? The clinical/management tension and the role expectations formed within the taken-for-granted rituals and routines of the ward and the hospital managerial structure are examined.