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).

Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

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Initially when I had a disdain for nursing stemming from 10 years of bad experiences, I thought that too. BUT a PhD in nursing is held in high esteem by the scientific community, my father has a PhD in pharmacokinetics, and he says it is necessary. Nurses with a PhD teach in higher academic institutions as well as participate in research. They play a vital role in drug studies, patient outcomes over a period of time. Yes they do make significant scientific and medical contributions. I know a family friend works for ST Jude's, and the nurses and nurse practitioners actively participate in research studies and make major contributions with MDs.

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
2) math for vanity? Lol. You are clearly the ignoramus in this thread

So you come on here, talk about things you know nothing about, and basically call nursing and nursing research useless. I do the same (for the record, totally tongue and cheek) about math and I am the ignoramus. Your logic is impeccable. (I think we need a troll smiley.)

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
BUT a PhD in nursing is held in high esteem by the scientific community, my father has a PhD in pharmacokinetics, and he says it is necessary.

Oh come on...we all know that pharmacokinetics is only evolving because of medicine (no pun intended--I'm referring to the field of medicine, not the drugs). We all know that your father is just a liason [sic] between the patient and pills.

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Specializes in adult psych, LTC/SNF, child psych.

So you come on here, talk about things you know nothing about, and basically call nursing and nursing research useless. I do the same (for the record, totally tongue and cheek) about math and I am the ignoramus. Your logic is impeccable. (I think we need a troll smiley.)

I keep asking myself, "why do I have such an intense urge to feed the trolls?". I think it's out of morbid curiosity and wonder about how it is that people express such disdain or criticism when having had no practical or theoretical education on the broad spectrum of nursing, let along specialties and the subtleties of research. Nursing is rooted in evidence based practice, which is a direct result of research. While nursing is not a "hard" science such as biology or chemistry, it is a science in it's own right, albeit a "softer" science.

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Lol. Ill agree to disagree and leave it at that, I came in here for a little bit of insight and only a few posts were enlightening. But thanks for your feedback anyways, ill be sure and make a mental note of how rigorous nursing is. FYI it is a soft science at best. Good day.

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"I know a family friend works for ST Jude's, and the nurses and nurse practitioners actively participate in research studies and make major contributions with MDs."

This is not true, it can not be. No nurse or NP is doing medical research. A nurse does not do research unless they have PhD in front of their name. NPs are practitioners, not research associates. They do not have the academic background to be doing any research, just like no one else in a STEM field is doing research unless they have a PhD. That is the purpose of a PhD.

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"I know a family friend works for ST Jude's, and the nurses and nurse practitioners actively participate in research studies and make major contributions with MDs."

This is not true, it can not be. No nurse or NP is doing medical research. A nurse does not do research unless they have PhD in front of their name. NPs are practitioners, not research associates. They do not have the academic background to be doing any research, just like no one else in a STEM field is doing research unless they have a PhD. That is the purpose of a PhD.

Funny that you say that and nursing is a soft science. What about certain areas of math and physics in which is theoretical? How do you know thy only PhDs do research? I've known plenty in the STEM field that contribute to research that do not have PhDs. Look in published papers, many contribute without a having a PhD.

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They are few and far between, if some one with a MS level education can do research, then what is the point of a PhD? MS level education means you have taken graduate level courses in the given discipline. Some MS programs have a thesis yes, but that hardly constitutes that the given person is prepared for a career in research. Theoretical research is definitely a hard science are you kidding me? I guess Einstein's theory of relitivity is a soft area of science too then. Theorteical research in physics and math is where it all starts. Without these areas of research where would the innovation be coming from? It would solely exist in engineering disciplines. I'd love for you to tell the string theorists that their science is "soft" lol.

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They are few and far between if some one with a MS level education can do research, then what is the point of a PhD? MS level education means you have taken graduate level courses in the given discipline. Some MS programs have a thesis yes, but that hardly constitutes that the given person is prepared for a career in research. Theoretical research is definitely a hard science are you kidding me? I guess Einstein's theory of relitivity is a soft area of science too then. Theorteical research in physics and math is where it all starts. Without these areas of research where would the innovation be coming from? It would solely exist in engineering disciplines. I'd love for you to tell the string theorists that their science is "soft" lol.[/quote']

I never said physics or mathematics is a soft science. Go back and reread. I would love for you to do that first. You don't need a PhD to research, you can have an MS and do research and publish. Please go look in a database and look for articles. PharmDs and other professional degrees do build a foundation for research. I've worked with plenty of PharmDs that do not have their PhDs and still do research.

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Yes I see I misread what you said, my apologies. Math and physics almost REQUIRE you to have a PhD to do research. You can not even teach at a university unless you are a graduate student under supervision of a professor or a professor yourself. In industry, you will find only rare cases where a MS is conducting research, even then, it is almost entirely PhDs. Not to mention, NPs and PAs are midlevels, they don't conduct research. That is what the MD is for, and even most MDs do not do research they go to CMEs as required and are strictly practioners.

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Yes I see I misread what you said my apologies. Math and physics almost REQUIRE you to have a PhD to do research. You can not even teach at a university unless you are a graduate student under supervision of a professor or a professor yourself. In industry, you will find only rare cases where a MS is conducting research, even then, it is almost entirely PhDs. Not to mention, NPs and PAs are midlevels, they don't conduct research. That is what the MD is for, and even most MDs do not do research they go to CMEs as required and are strictly practioners.[/quote']

I would beg to differ and refute your argument but I don't have the time. Yes traditionally MDs that want to research pursue PhDs. There are different subjects to be researched and that varies in who conducts the research and implements it. I would warn against sticking strictly to the concept that only MDs and not the NPs conduct research. MDs do research and practice, that's how clinical studies are done in pharmaceutical research. In terms of physics and mathematics, they might require a PhD, but that does not strictly apply to the rest of the sciences.

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