Facing and managing dilemmas as a clinical educator

Although clinical educators make an important and irreplaceable contribution to the education of students undertaking qualifications that will enable them to practise as health professionals, little is known about the day-to-day experiences of clinical educators and the complexities of clinical education that may contribute to the problems or to the successes of clinical educators. This paper reports on one aspect of a study that sought to increase the understanding and appreciation of the roles and responsibilities of being a clinical educator. The lived experiences of clinical educators in speech pathology1 were explored in depth, over a sustained period of time, in an attempt to understand what it is like to be a clinical educator. This paper uses narrative data to illustrate dilemmas faced by clinical educators in our study, and discusses implications pertinent to clinical educators in a range of health disciplines in higher education