The professional doctorate for nurses in Australia: findings of a scoping exercise.

This paper presents the findings of a scoping exercise to map the professional doctorate for nurses and midwives in three Australian Universities using a modified form of Illuminative Evaluation. The visit was prompted by the increase in the number and range of professional doctorates introduced in the UK over the last decade which stimulated a desire to obtain details of similar programmes in Australia. Sources of data included course documentation and course work, session content, and interviews with doctoral students enrolled on a professional doctorate. Examination of the Australian professional doctorate indicates that such programmes were developed primarily in response to the perceived limitations of the PhD and a desire to generate practice-relevant research. Programmes were designed specifically for leaders in the 'clinical' field, such as nurse consultants and those aspiring to Clinical Chairs in Nursing. One of the principal aims of the Australian doctorate was to help clinicians acquire skills in multiple methodologies to promote a patient focused research agenda. This approach has clear lessons for the UK and these are presented in the form of recommendations at the close of the paper. This paper will be of interest to those responsible for the provision of the professional doctorate for nurses, sponsors of students, researchers of education and policy makers.

Professional doctorates for nurses: mapping provision and perceptions.

AIM: This paper reports a study to map the range of developments of professional doctorates in the United Kingdom (UK) and report the views of key stakeholders as to the value of the professional doctorate relative to the more traditional PhD. BACKGROUND: As the highest university degree that can be awarded, the traditional Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) represents the pinnacle of advanced learning and scholarly enquiry, demonstrated by subject expertise and the creation of new knowledge. The last decade the UK has witnessed the introduction of an alternative form of doctoral preparation for nurses and other health care professions known as the taught or professional doctorate, a form of doctoral provision not unlike the United States of America (USA) model of PhD in Nursing. METHODS: An illuminative evaluation was carried out in date in the UK in 2003. Data were collected using content analysis of curricula and related documentation, and telephone interviews with 55 academics at 41 institutions of higher education. RESULTS: Mapping of the professional doctorate revealed a continuum of provision from highly prescriptive to minimally prescriptive programmes and a wide range of attitudes towards the professional doctorate, varying from enthusiasm through ambivalence to scepticism. CONCLUSION: Educators face an uphill battle in convincing practitioners of the efficacy and value of continuing professional education at doctoral level, a challenge that is likely to be increased by the general lack of clarity and consensus amongst academics reported in this study. Shared understanding of the concept of a professional doctorate is needed if the benefits of these programmes are to be realised.

The changing landscape of doctoral education: Introducing the professional doctorate for nurses.

The last decade has heralded the introduction of an alternative form of doctoral education for nurses in the United Kingdom, the professional or taught doctorate. First introduced in 1995 in the UK the number of professional doctorates for nurses has steadily increased totalling more than 23 programmes in 2004, a trend that seems set to continue. This paper presents those factors leading to the introduction of the professional doctorate in mainstream higher education generally and those leading to its adoption by the profession nursing. Professional doctorates are defined variously and these are considered relative to the traditional PhD. It will be some time before the full benefits of these programmes are realised and an empirical basis established. Meantime this paper highlights some of the potential benefits and some concerns whilst advocating recommendations that include the longitudinal evaluation of such programmes.

Research governance and postgraduate nurse education: the tensions and some solutions.

In this paper Lorraine Ellis and Sue Peckover discuss the implications of the current NHS Research Governance Framework for the supervision of Masters level students undertaking empirical research as part of their programme of study. The paper highlights some of the inherent tensions resulting from the introduction of research governance, and offers some solutions.