The emergence of professional doctorates in nursing in the UK: Where are we now?

This study explored the views of course leaders and students taking doctorates in nursing science. Semi-structured telephone interviews were undertaken with a purposive sample of course leaders and students (n=8) from three UK courses running at the time of the study. One course had been established for six years, the other two were in the first year of delivery.

The theme we have labelled 'new knowledge for improvement' describes what emerged from the data as the underlying mission and philosophy guiding the doctorates.

Students were found to value the following course features: supportive systems; peer group support; being embedded in an academic department; exposure to multiple research methods; and preparation for clinically focused research. Some nurses were not attracted to what they perceived as a long and lonely route to a PhD, favouring instead the new-style doctorates because of the supportive networks these offer. While the focus of this paper is nursing, there is a long history of professional doctorates in other fields. This paper outlines the developments in professional doctorates and offers a definition and some differentiation between the new-style doctorate and the traditional PhD.

The major themes that emerged from the data concerned problems in professional nursing doctorates, such as the inherent high volume of work; lack of opportunity to use skills in practice; for some students, the uni-disciplinary nature of the courses; negative views of 'taught' doctorates; issues about doctoral standards, and the credibility of the award title in the outside world. Questions and problems for future delivery of doctoral education are outlined.