Current state and future recommendations for faculty in PhD in nursing programs

In 2020 the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Board of Directors appointed a 9-member task force to revise AACN's 2010 position statement, The Research-Focused Doctoral Program in Nursing: Pathways to Excellence, with the goal of developing a vision for research-focused doctoral programs and graduates. This resulted in 70 recommendations in a new AACN position statement, The Research-Focused Doctoral Program in Nursing: Pathways to Excellence (2022). The new document is based on a review of the literature from 2010 to 2021 and 2 inaugural surveys sent to deans and PhD students in nursing. The new The Research-Focused Doctoral Program in Nursing Pathways to Excellence document focuses on the critical need for nurse scientists who can develop the science, steward the profession, and educate new nurse educators. Several manuscripts have been developed describing various components of the PhD Pathways document focusing on the role of faculty, students and curriculum, resources and post-doctoral education. This article focuses on the recommendations related to explicating the faculty role in PhD education and includes data from the AACN (2020) deans' survey, the current state of the professoriate involved in PhD education and the developmental needs of PhD faculty for the future.