PhD in Nursing
As a PhD student, you are linked with faculty researchers who provide supportive mentoring throughout your entire PhD program. You can choose to work with faculty experts in clinical nursing science or health systems.
Clinical nursing science concentrates on the interrelationships of health promotion, health behavior, and quality of life in acute and chronic illness throughout the lifespan. This focus area includes the prevention and early detection of disease and disability across the continuum of care and the enhancement of the health and well-being for individuals, families, and communities. Examples of scholarship and faculty research in clinical nursing science include:
- Improving quality of life in persons with chronic illness, including epilepsy, stroke, and renal disease
- Behavioral oncology across the cancer continuum (including cancer prevention, detection, and symptom management)
- Childhood and family adaptation to chronic illness
- Family caregiving across the lifespan
- Tailored intervention studies to improve quality of life
- Patient care safety
Health systems operate to create structures and resources that enable individuals and communities to achieve optimal health. This focus area includes the science of nursing education, informatics, health policy, and administration. Examples of scholarship and faculty research within the focus of health systems include:
- Teaching and learning in web-based courses
- Clinical reasoning
- Assessment of learning and program evaluation
- Health policy and public policy analysis
- Computer systems to enhance care delivery
- Nursing informatics
- Narrative pedagogies
- Patient care simulations
- Community-based care coordination
