Perspectives of faculty practice and clinical competence: a trilogy of paradox

The authors present three different views of nursing faculty competence and mandated faculty practice. The first author supports faculty practice as a requirement for educators. The second author believes that too much is expected of nurse educators and asks, "What about life?" The third author, who has devoted more than 30 years to nursing education, attempted to go back to being a staff nurse and failed to "come up to speed." The authors offer the rationale for their positions and suggestions for our readers' consideration.