Doctoral dental hygiene education: insights from a review of nursing literature and program websites.

PURPOSE: Because dental hygiene education has had a similar trajectory as nursing education, this critical review addressed the question "What can the dental hygiene discipline learn from the nursing experience in their development of doctoral education?" Information on admission and degree requirements, modes of instruction, and program length and cost was collected from the websites associated with 112 of 125 PhD nursing programs nationally, and 174 of 184 Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs. In addition, searches of PubMed, Cumulative Index Nursing Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and the Web of Science were utilized to identify key articles and books. The following 4 insights relevant to future dental hygiene doctoral education emerged from a review of nursing doctoral education: First, nursing doctoral education offers 2 main doctoral degrees, the research-focused PhD degree and the practice-focused DNP degree. Second, there is a well-documented need for doctoral prepared nurses to teach in nursing programs at all levels in managing client-care settings. Third, curricula quality and consistency is a priority in nursing education. Fourth, there are numerous templates on nursing doctoral education available. The historical background of nursing doctoral education was also reviewed, with the assumption that it can be used to inform the dental hygiene discipline when establishing doctoral dental hygiene education. The authors recommend that with the current changes toward medically and socially compromised patient populations, impending changes in health care policies and the available critical mass of master degree-prepared dental hygiene scholars ready to advance the discipline, now is the time for the dental hygiene discipline to establish doctoral education.