Nursing PhD Program Research Articles

Postdoctoral Opportunities for Nursing PhD Graduates: A Resource Guide.

Before completing a nursing PhD program, doctoral students are encouraged to seek out and apply for a position in one of many, often highly competitive postdoctoral programs. These programs include the more traditional National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded experiences, such as the T32, as well as the nontraditional institution funded positions, including the associate faculty role. Graduates often need guidance on which postdoctoral programs are available, the resources each program offers to promote development of the applicant's program of research, the disadvantages of each program, and what each program uses as benchmarks for success. This article summarizes both traditional and nontraditional postdoctoral positions including the T32, F32, F99/K00, T90/R90, research supplements, associate faculty, research associate, and hospital-affiliated postdoctoral positions. This article updates previous papers describing postdoctoral opportunities and offers a starting place to aide PhD students planning their postgraduate activities in seeking and evaluating these positions.

Career intentions of PhD students in nursing: A cross-sectional survey

BackgroundDespite the rapid growth of Chinese nursing PhD programs, little is known about the career intentions of students in this field. ObjectiveTo investigate the career intentions of nursing PhD students. DesignOnline cross-sectional survey. ParticipantsNursing PhD students at Chinese universities. MethodsAn online questionnaire was designed and the data were analyzed using SPSS. ResultsThe mean age of the participants was 31.53 ± 4.92 years, and most were female (89.9%), married (74.2%), and had been employed previously (69.7%). Most intended to work in the city where their family lived (34.8%) or near their previous workplace (32.6%). Most (60.7%) desired to work in an educational institution (e.g., a university or college). The most common expected salary was 8000–11,999 RMB/month. The work benefits perceived as indispensable were “Five Insurances and One Fund” (77.5%), good educational resources for children (59.6%), financial allowances for PhD graduates (52.8%), staff dormitories/housing subsidies (50.6%), and tenure (50.6%). Nursing education (75.3%) and research (70.8%) were the most favored fields. The key job characteristics were the opportunity to put strengths to fullest use (79.8%), time to conduct research (60.7%), and work-life balance (51.7%). The key research conditions included a good research incentive mechanism (77.5%), a Basic Scientific Research Foundation (68.5%), opportunity to apply to conduct research projects (66.3%), and the nursing team's atmosphere regarding research (64.0%), and 91.0% were eager to study abroad (e.g., as part of an international exchange). ConclusionsNursing PhD students would like to work in their hometown or near their previous workplace. Most preferred working in an educational institution, and the most popular fields were nursing education and research (rather than clinical care), despite the high demand of hospital management for nursing PhD graduates. Flexible work, high-quality research conditions, a certain salary, work benefits, and training were key expectations.

Advances in Nursing Research Methodology: Big Data Analytics the Future

Big data is an advanced research methodology available to nurse researchers as part of a collaborative intra-professional team effort. In the Digital age large data sets are generated at a rate that defies definition. These data sets represent found data that exceeds the capacity of normal computer systems and is typically collected for another purpose, that are then used to answer research questions and test hypotheses. The team typically includes at least one or more health professionals who work on a collaborative team with data experts that include a statistician, software programmer and additional information technology experts. These methods are critical to the future advancement of nursing science and healthcare, and need to be integrated into the curriculum of Nursing PhD programs. The management of big data requires special ethical consideration by the IRB to insure that the project is either exempt or excluded and free from human subjects’ concerns. Big data methodology is important to and the advancement of nursing science and healthcare in the Digital Age.

Making Dissertations Publishable

Making Dissertations Publishable

Educating future nursing scientists: Recommendations for integrating omics content in PhD programs

Preparing the next generation of nursing scientists to conduct high-impact, competitive, sustainable, innovative, and interdisciplinary programs of research requires that the curricula for PhD programs keep pace with emerging areas of knowledge and health care/biomedical science. A field of inquiry that holds great potential to influence our understanding of the underlying biology and mechanisms of health and disease is omics. For the purpose of this article, omics refers to genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, epigenomics, exposomics, microbiomics, and metabolomics. Traditionally, most PhD programs in schools of nursing do not incorporate this content into their core curricula. As part of the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science's Idea Festival for Nursing Science Education, a work group charged with addressing omics preparation for the next generation of nursing scientists was convened. The purpose of this article is to describe key findings and recommendations from the work group that unanimously and enthusiastically support the incorporation of omics content into the curricula of PhD programs in nursing. The work group also calls to action faculty in schools of nursing to develop strategies to enable students needing immersion in omics science and methods to execute their research goals.

Emerging areas of nursing science and PhD education for the 21st century: Response to commentaries

We respond to commentaries from the American Academy of Nursing, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and the National Institute of Nursing Research on our thoughts about integrating emerging areas of science into nursing PhD programs. We identify areas of agreement and focus our response on cross-cutting issues arising from cautions about the unique focus of nursing science and how best to proceed with incorporation of emerging areas of science into nursing PhD programs.

Evaluating a New Doctoral Nursing Program: A Jordanian Case Study

Establishing and maintaining a quality nursing doctoral program in a country with limited resources is a challenge to program managers. Continuous evaluation is essential to pinpoint areas of improvement. This study aims to evaluate a nursing PhD program from the perspective of its first graduate cohort to provide feedback for improvement. Qualitative design using focus group method was used to collect data from a purposive sample of graduates (N=14). Content analysis revealed seven themes: Opportunity to earn a PhD-A dream comes true; A need for peer collaboration and support; Innovative strategies to overcome faculty shortage; A need for improved mentorship; Successfully merging national and international experience; Enhanced professionalism and scholarship; Coping with limited resources. The study findings suggest reviewing program admission criteria and curriculm content to meet student and marketplace needs. Maintaining national and international partnership, innovative teaching-learning strategies, and developing further strategies to meet resources challenges were recommended.

Science Librarian Internship as a Way to Get Started in EScience

The Science Bibliographers’ Group of Boston College first proposed the creation of a paid science librarian internship position in Summer 2008. Since then, the three interns hired over time have gained exposure to a wide variety of activities undertaken by science librarians, and, at the same time, have significantly furthered the Library’s understanding of, and participation in, eScience. In addition to important contributions in reference and collection development activities, intern contributions have included an environmental scan/best practices review of relevant eScience initiatives, design of an eScience brochure, development of a faculty survey to gauge interest in library data management, and a capstone presentation on eScience for all library staff. Building upon that work, the Science Bibliographers’ Group developed a Vision Statement and Action Plans for eScience. Our current intern is working closely with members of the group on the creation of a LibGuide focused on data management and, concurrently, development of curricular materials for data management workshops to be implemented during the 2011/12 academic year. Ideally, these increased efforts in eScience-related work will result in an enhanced profile for eScience on the Boston College campus, and, ultimately, creation of a new, eSciencefocused position in the Boston College Libraries. An internship program can provide current knowledge and skills to educate and support a university research library through the early learning stage of developing an eSciences program, while simultaneously providing a valuable hands-on learning experience for a potential science librarian. Goals and History of the Science Librarian Internship at Boston College Boston College (BC) is a leading American Jesuit university with approximately 9,000 full-time undergraduates and 4,900 graduate and professional students. As a Doctoral/ Research Extensive university, BC offers PhD programs in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Nursing, and Physics. In fiscal year 2010, university researchers received over $60 million in sponsored research funds. The Boston College Libraries are members of the Association of Research Libraries. In Spring 2008, the Boston College Science Bibliographers’ Group — bibliographers for Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Education (including Science Education), Geology, Mathematics, Nursing, Physics, and Psychology — proposed to Library administration the creation of a paid Science Librarian Correspondence to Sally Wyman: sally.wyman@bc.edu

Exploration of Nursing Doctoral Admissions and Performance Outcomes

This research aims to identify current admission criteria and academic performance outcomes in nursing PhD programs. A descriptive exploratory design was used to survey all American Association of Colleges of Nursing PhD programs (N = 110) via a Web-mediated standardized survey; the response rate was 51% (n = 56). Conclusions indicate six diverse yet complementary admission criteria: graduate grade point average (GPA), Graduate Record Examinations ® scores, writing samples, letters of recommendation, interviews, and research match with faculty. Findings also indicated that admission criteria largely lack predictive validity testing in regard to academic performance outcomes and are deficient in internal reliability. Academic performance outcomes included comprehensive examination, ongoing minimum graduate GPA of 3.0, formal dissertation, time to degree attainment, degree attainment, time to candidacy, type of employment after graduation, and publications and grants as a student and at 5 years postgraduation.

Using Portfolio Evaluation for Program Outcome Assessment

Portfolio evaluation is an efficient and effective strategy to objectively demonstrate the accomplishment of program objectives using students' perceptions of their academic experiences. A portfolio evaluation tool was developed to quantitatively measure students' perceptions of their achievement of the nursing program's goals and objectives. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 26 portfolio evaluations. Reliability testing showed the tool has high interrater reliability, with Cohen's Kappa >0.80 for most items. Individual achievement of program goals and objectives ranged from 53.6% to 100%. These data will be used in the next formative evaluation of the curriculum to revise program objectives and correspondneing course objectives and assignments.ty

A Nursing PhD Specialty in Health Policy: University of Massachusetts Boston

This article describes the Nursing PhD Program specialty in health policy conceived and developed at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The rationale for a specialty in health policy is that nurses have valuable knowledge and a unique perspective of the health care system. Nurses belong to the largest group of health care providers and are the providers that spend the most time with patients. The nursing profession has a responsibility to help assure members of society have access to safe and effective quality health care. As a group, nurses need to be politically savvy to translate their knowledge and perspective to benefit society. Nurses need to direct their attention to understanding issues and policy arguments and to contribute to policy discussion with reasoned arguments and objectivity. The PhD program at the University of Massachusetts Boston prepares nurses as policy analysts, researchers, and educators who will positively contribute to the health of society.