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The University of New Brunswick is launching a new PhD program in nursing.
The university says it’s designed to address a looming shortage of nurses who are educated to conduct research, advance nursing science, advise on policy and train new nurses.
Postgraduates are needed to find, create and engage with evidence, to wrestle with complex problems in health, health care and nursing education, said UNB.
The four-year, full-time program will start in the fall and largely be delivered online, said Sue O’Donnell, associate dean of research and graduate studies and an associate professor in the faculty of nursing and health sciences.
“This will allow students anywhere and everywhere in the province to be able to pursue this program or even students outside of the province,” O’Donnell said in an interview with Information Morning.
Most applicants are expected to be experienced nurses with professional and family commitments, said a release from UNB.
It’s possible some students may continue working part time, said O’Donnell, but the program will be quite demanding.
Only four or five students a year will be admitted, which is a typical size for a program of this type, she said.
Another 15 per year are admitted to UNB’s master’s program in nursing and 15 to the nurse practitioner program, said O’Donnell, while a total of 912 students were in its nursing undergraduate program as of last fall, said a spokesperson for the university.
UNB has had a nursing program since 1958, but until now, New Brunswick nurses wanting a PhD had to go out of province or pursue interdisciplinary studies.
O’Donnell said she has heard from many graduates who are studying elsewhere and interested in the new program.
It’s a “great milestone” and a “welcomed addition,” said Kate Sheppard, CEO and registrar of the College of Nursing of New Brunswick.
Sheppard said she thinks many nurses in the province are interested in advancing in their professional careers, and the PhD program will give them access to opportunities to do so.
“It also addresses the specific nursing shortage needs in academia while advancing nursing research and practice,” she said.
Asked whether she thought it would help address the overall shortage of nurses working in health care, Sheppard said not directly, as it will not increase the number of graduates from UNB’s undergraduate program, which trains people to work as registered nurses.
However, she said it should help nurse training programs continue to operate.
“Similar to many other work sectors in Canada, nursing faculty are also aging and some of them or many of them are nearing retirement age,” said O’Donnell.
Data from the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing show that about 45 per cent of permanent nursing faculty are over 50 years of age and 18 per cent are over 60, she said.
“I would say that we’re already feeling the impacts of some of this,” O’Donnell said.
CBC asked UNB whether there are any unfilled positions on the nursing faculty or expected vacancies in the near future. That information has not yet been received.
Current faculty members have expertise in health services, health policy, older adult health, gender and health, health promotion, population health and nursing education, O’Donnell said.
Faculty supervisors in Fredericton, Saint John and Moncton will mentor and support students in the new PhD program as they pursue research on a topic of interest to them, she said.
Admission decisions are ongoing, but she already knows she will be working with a student who will analyze data on men’s experiences of violence, for example.
The first year of the program includes coursework and exams, then students go about completing their research, O’Donnell said.
