DNP Role Development for Doctoral Advanced Nursing Practice, Second Edition

1: THE HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL PATH OF DOCTORAL NURSING EDUCATION ■ 31

graduates were in full- time academic appointments.^15 We suggest that at that time this
degree model had a high rate of producing new full- time nursing faculty (three of whom
have even procured tenure- track positions) and the average time from matriculation to
graduation was approximately 3.29 years.
The hybrid degree is particularly facile in academia, because all students complete
a clinical dissertation and therefore have common research skills. And although their
research skills are not typically as extensive as that of the PhD graduate, they are none-
theless comparable. Other health professions have also dealt with the realities of pro-
fessional doctorates and the difficult transition of their graduates into academic roles,
particularly when the degree emphasis was on practice, not scholarly productivity. For
this reason, physical therapy and occupational therapy both developed a hybrid pro-
fessional degree after their introduction of their doctor of physical therapy and occu-
pational therapy doctorate or doctor of occupational therapy (DPT and OTD or DOT)
degrees, respectively, with the doctor of science in physical therapy and doctor of sci-
ence (DScPT and DSc degrees), and in occupational therapy, the doctor of occupational
therapy (DrOT degree). Table 1.4 identifies other health professions that have hybrid
doctorates and indicates the differences among the research, hybrid professional, and
professional doctorates.
What is interesting is that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has opened up
research funding (at least in the Parent K23 mechanism) to both graduates of “doc-
toral nursing research and nursing practice” programs (NIH, 2009a, section 1.B) and a
few schools are revisiting the role of research in the DNP; in one case, the University
of Connecticut has added courses in research methods that they previously did not

TABLE 1.4 Types of Doctorates for Health Professions Disciplines in the United States

Academic Research

Doctorate (Research-

Intensive Emphasis)

Hybrid Professional

Doctorates (Practice/

Research- Oriented

Emphasis)

Professional Doctorates

(Practice/ Nonresearch

Emphasis)

PhD— doctor of philosophy DrPH— doctor of public

health

MD/ DO— doctor of

medicine, doctor of

osteopathy

ScD— doctor of science DSc— doctor of science DPT— doctor of physical

therapy

DNS— doctor of nursing

science

PsyD— doctor of psychology PharmD— doctor of

pharmacy

DSN— doctor of science in

nursing

DSW— doctor of social work DNP— Doctor of Nursing

Practice

DNSc— doctor of nursing

science

DScPT— doctor of science in

physical therapy

DDS/ DMD— doctor of dental

surgery, Dentariae Medicinae

Doctoris

DrNP— doctor of nursing

practice

DVM/ VMD— doctor

of veterinary medicine,

Veterinariae Medicinae

Doctoris

DCN— doctor of clinical

nutrition

DOT— doctor of occupational

therapy

Modified from Smith Glasgow and Dreher (2010).