217chapter NINE
The Clinical Scholar Role in
Doctoral Advanced Nursing Practice
Elizabeth W. Gonzalez and M. Christina R. Esperat
The maturity of the nursing discipline and the challenges created by the market- driven
environment that we live in today make clinical scholarship more important than ever
before. The professional roles of nurses today require that nursing practice be consis-
tent with the emerging knowledge. The roles and responsibilities of nurses will con-
tinue to expand, as they become the key health care providers of the next decades. The
health care system continues in its transformation, and along with it, new challenges
for health care professionals to justify and validate the care they provide. Nurse leaders
are increasingly expected to provide the direction and management of the outcomes
of the evaluation process. To improve outcomes, clinical decision must be grounded in
clinical inquiry where nurses who practice in a scholarly manner work directly and col-
legially with other health care providers in other settings, both in the discovery and the
application of new knowledge. The integration of knowledge across disciplines and the
application of knowledge to solve practice problems and improve health outcomes are
alternative ways that new phenomena and knowledge are generated in nursing practice
other than through research (DePalma & McGuire, 2005; Rolfe & Davies, 2009; Sigma
Theta Tau International [STTI], 1999). This chapter addresses the kind of clinical schol-
arship that is continuing to evolve as advanced practice nurses (APNs) with practice-
focused doctorates generate evidence/ knowledge to guide improvements in practice
and outcomes of care.
■ HOW IS CLINICAL SCHOLARSHIP DEFINED?
The scholarly practice of nurses can be traced to Florence Nightingale’s work (1860/ 1992)
during the Crimean War, in which data and statistical methods were used for clinical
decision making. For several decades, nursing leaders have discussed the scholarship of
practice (Benner, Tanner, & Chesla, 1996; Dickoff & James, 1968; Diers, 1995). Although
discovery is central to expanding knowledge, linking discovery with application is an
essential underpinning for practice disciplines (Riley, Beal, Levi, & McCausland, 2002).
Therefore, the traditional belief that scholarship is primarily for the conduct of original
research is a serious limitation in a practice discipline such as nursing.