Building bridges in doctoral education: Collaborative DNP and PhD courses

Background:  Nursing is a practice discipline and theory, practice, and research are interdependent. The contributions of DNP and PhD educated nurses are necessary to improve practice environments and effectively meet current healthcare needs (IOM, 2010).  Nursing schools typically educate DNP and PhD graduate students using individual curriculum, which fails to provide collaborative opportunities for scholarly nursing activities. Collaborative educational efforts between these doctoral degrees will promote academic progression for nurses and enhance the profession (Edwardson, 2010).

Objectives: The purpose of this research is to identify the knowledge and perceptions that first year DNP and PhD graduate nursing students enrolled in a theory course have of the research roles of each doctoral program. Study results will be utilized to develop collaborative DNP and PhD courses and a curriculum that fosters collaborative research opportunities. The purpose of this presentation is to present the study findings related to nursing doctoral students’ perceptions of DNP/PhD roles in theory application, scholarship, and collaborative research and practice.

Method: First year DNP and PhD nursing graduate students were enrolled in the same synchronous online doctoral level theory course. Study data describing the knowledge and perceptions of consenting doctoral students were anonymously collected. Data were collected longitudinally, during the first week of the course and after course grades were confirmed.

Results:  The knowledge and perceptions of DNP and PhD nursing students altered during the study period. Findings indicate that beginning PhD and DNP students do not thoroughly understand the research roles of either educational preparation, regardless of their individual focus. Positive learning outcomes were attained by providing a combined theory course to both DNP and PhD students.

Conclusions: Positive learning outcomes were attained when the theory course was taught to a class consisting of both DNP and PhD students. These results provide a framework for designing and implementing creative teaching approaches. Future activities will promote collaborative research efforts between DNP and PhD nurses and within an interdisciplinary team to improve healthcare outcomes.