Preparing the nurse scientist for academia and industry

The number of doctoral programs in nursing has been increasing. However, these programs tend to focus on preparing nurse scientists to conduct research, and many spend little time preparing doctoral students for the educator, clinical researcher, or administrator role. Leaders of doctoral programs have identified the need to prepare doctoral students in the functional roles they will assume upon graduation, in addition to the researcher role. This article describes a two-course (six-credit) sequence of courses within a research-focused PhD in Nursing program that provides didactic and experiential knowledge about the role of the nurse scientist in academia and industry settings. Students are highly satisfied with the courses, and report that the experiences have provided them with important knowledge and skills as they assume the scientist role.