purpose of PhD in nursing??

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Just as the title suggests, what is the purpose of this? A PhD implies research and original contribution to the field of study. I don't understand what "cutting edge" research is being done in nursing. Nursing is a vocational career, you can't really do much else with a nursing degree other than be a nurse. Nursing is also limited in its scope of practice as it is a medical support role (albiet the backbone of hospitals and most medical facilities).

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Ok, before I reply, just wondering: are you a nurse, or a student, and/or do you have any interest in pursuing a PhD in nursing?

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I have a Bach degree in math and physics and start grad school in the fall. The reason I bring this debate tothis forum is because i recently had this debate with a close friend whom is considering getting her PhD in nursing. I wanted to know what the nursing community thinks about it. Is it well defended? It doesn't seem so as the amount of PhDs in nursing is rather small. Which further leads me to believe that the room to do research and have original contributions is small due to the limited scope of practices nurses have in the rather large field of medicine.

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Just as the title suggests, what is the purpose of this? A PhD implies research and original contribution to the field of study. I don't understand what "cutting edge" research is being done in nursing. Nursing is a vocational career, you can't really do much else with a nursing degree other than be a nurse. Nursing is also limited in its scope of practice as it is a medical support role (albiet the backbone of hospitals and most medical facilities).

Hi there. I have questions for you before we discuss PhD in Nursing. Do you have any background in nursing? I am asking because you stated "it is a medical support role." Does this "it" refer to nursing? Each profession has its role in the field. Health care is about team work. If "it" means nursing, what is main role then?

For your information, PhD in nursing has long established.For example, how we provide care for burn and what care should be provided to different degrees of burn. It is done by nursing research. The degree was called DNSc (Doctor of Nursing Science). However, PhD is more recognized by the general population, so most schools now call PhD in Nursing.

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Interesting. I worked in the emergency room for 2.5 years as a tech, my mother is a nurse, my sister and her husband are new grad nurses, my father is a PA. I am well aware of the structure of nursing in most senses. A nurse is a patient advocate, the liason between a patient and the physician. That is their main role, all other duties very by area and setting. What I am concerned with is the purpose of research. How can nursing have research programs? Nursing is limited by medicine. As medicine evolves so will nursing, but it never happens the other way around.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
Interesting. I worked in the emergency room for 2.5 years as a tech, my mother is a nurse, my sister and her husband are new grad nurses, my father is a PA. I am well aware of the structure of nursing in most senses. A nurse is a patient advocate, the liason between a patient and the physician. That is their main role, all other duties very by area and setting. What I am concerned with is the purpose of research. How can nursing have research programs? Nursing is limited by medicine. As medicine evolves so will nursing, but it never happens the other way around.

Your conception of nursing is no nearly as complete as you think it is. In fact, it is so different from the conceptualization that many of us in "developed nations" have that it makes me wonder whether or not you are kidding or perhaps, trying to stir up trouble here. Or perhaps you are not from a "Western industrialized nation," where nursing is viewed as its own discipline, separate from medicine. I'll assume you are sincere and not just trying to stir up trouble.

Nursing is both an art and a science. As a practice discipine, we do provide direct health care services for patients. But we also develop knowledge about health, health needs, treatments, etc. We study health, health promoting behaviors, the effects of illness & injury, strategies for promoting health and recovery, etc.

I assume you have access to a university library. I suggest you browse some of the major academic nursing journals to get a sense of the topics of interest to nurse researchers. Ask the librarian to help you find those journals. There are several to choose from. If you take a look at them, you will see the types of things that nurses research.

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Complete as I think it is? I gave a very true, but complete generalization of a nurse's main role. I don't think that means I don't understand what nurses do, nor is that the purpose of this thread. I'm not here to stir up any trouble, I was inquiring about what the purpose of a PhD nursing program consists of. I acknowledge it exists, but you mean to tell me there is an academic program geared toward a vocational discipline? It seems like a PhD in nursing exists soley for vanity.

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
Complete as I think it is? I gave a very true, but complete generalization of a nurse's main role.

I would type out a full response to this, but I think your ignorance on the subject speaks for itself.

In addition, I would seem to think that a PhD in math would pretty much be for vanity too (especially considering the lack of cutting edge mathematics research that is making news these days).

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Hm, ignorance eh? 1) I think you just spewed out a fair amount of your own. But yes, I must be the ignorant one. We all know nursing is cutting edge stuff that makes daily news with research breakthroughs. 2) math for vanity? Lol. You are clearly the ignoramus in this thread. Mathematics has been around a whole hell of a lot longer than nursing and what mathematical background do YOU have that makes you the expert?

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Specializes in adult psych, LTC/SNF, child psych.
Hm, ignorance eh? 1) I think you just spewed out a fair amount of your own. But yes, I must be the ignorant one. We all know nursing is cutting edge stuff that makes daily news with research breakthroughs. 2) math for vanity? Lol. You are clearly the ignoramus in this thread. Mathematics has been around a whole hell of a lot longer than nursing and what mathematical background do YOU have that makes you the expert?

Wow. You certainly have some sort of mission or chip on your shoulders. What kind of PhD is considered "cutting edge" enough for you to be worthy of a PhD?

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
Complete as I think it is? I gave a very true, but complete generalization of a nurse's main role. I don't think that means I don't understand what nurses do, nor is that the purpose of this thread. I'm not here to stir up any trouble, I was inquiring about what the purpose of a PhD nursing program consists of. I acknowledge it exists, but you mean to tell me there is an academic program geared toward a vocational discipline? It seems like a PhD in nursing exists soley for vanity.

I'll assume you are sincere and not just trying to stir up trouble. Nursing is a "practice discipline" -- with both a practice aspect and an academic aspect. In that sense, it is just like medicine in that we both DO nursing care and DEVELOP KNOWLEDGE about health and nursing care. It is the same with medicine that both provides medical services to patients and also studies health and medical care.

We provide services and we also study/develop knowledge about human health needs and practices. Why is that so hard for you to grasp? Our colleagues in other academic disciplines (such as chemistry, philosophy, math, physics, sociology, etc.) have accknowledge that nursing is its own academic discipline and given us equal standing within the academic world. They have granted us the privilege to offer PhD's within many of the world's leading universities. We have earned our seat at the table just as the other academic disciplines have earned their seats -- by doing research and proving our discipline's worthiness. Why do you resist the judgment of the entire academic community?

If you want to learn more about the topics that nurse researchers study, look at some of the nursing research literature to get a sense of the major topics and trends.

llg, PhD, RN-BC

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
But yes, I must be the ignorant one. We all know nursing is cutting edge stuff that makes daily news with research breakthroughs.

Yes, here we do know that nursing research makes the daily news quite often. A lot of the news stories related to health have been based on the work that nurses are doing -- sometimes by themselves, sometimes in collaboration with other disciplines.

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