NLN-Jonas Scholars Present on Doctoral Education and Preparation for Teaching at National Meeting

In October 2013, the 2012-2013 cohort of NLN-Jonas Scholars presented findings from a research project conducted in preparation for the 2013 AACN Student Policy Summit held in Washington, DC. The five scholars asked: "How well are doctoral programs preparing nurses for the faculty roles that will be needed?"To explore this question, the scholars surveyed the curricular content of nursing doctoral programs offered and doctoral program availability with a curriculum focus on nursing education. The research selected five states in different regions in the United States: Arizona, Illinois, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. These states and their doctoral programs are also being used for another research study (funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation), "Evaluating Innovations in Nursing Education." This work will contribute to those findings.The project began with a review of posted curricular information from the websites of doctoral programs. The websites from the 21 schools in these states that offer doctoral programs were examined to obtain information regarding curricular and educational requirements related to preparation for teaching. NLN-Jonas Scholars made follow- up phone calls, as needed, to ascertain whether nursing education courses were required or offered and what other preparation doctoral students in these programs received for teaching.A comparison of the courses offered in these doctoral programs revealed little curricular consistency among them. Preparation for the faculty role varied, posing a challenge for new doctorally prepared faculty. While some doctoral programs required courses in teaching and educational principles, many did not, or only offered courses as an elective. It is recognized that doctoral education is focused on preparing graduates for research development (PhD) or dissemination (DNP) roles and that students come into these programs with a variety of prior experiences; however, these findings suggest that teaching skills were not consistently assessed or augmented in the doctoral education process. In fact, many doctoral programs were found to provide no formal preparation for the teaching aspects of the faculty role, despite the fact that most of their graduates will assume these roles.The findings from this work challenge the assumption in the Institute of Medicine's 2011 Future of Nursing report, which recommends that the number of nurses with doctorates be doubled by the year 2020 in order to relieve a projected critical shortage of nurse faculty and researchers. …