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Updated: Sep 11, 2025
Using Learning Outcome Measures to assess Doctoral Nursing Education
Published on: June 21, 2010
An Innovative Doctor of Nursing Programme: Transforming Learning, Leadership and Health Systems
Lorelli Nowell1, Tracie Risling1, Sandra Davidson1
1Faculty of Nursing, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Aim:
To provide an in-depth description of an innovative Doctor of Nursing programme which prepares nurses for senior roles in healthcare and related organisations. This programme provides nurse leaders with the knowledge and skills to advance systems through healthcare innovation design, implementation, and evaluation.
Methods:
A comparison of doctoral nursing programmes, highlighting the unique aspects of the University of Calgary Doctor of Nursing programme.
Results:
The University of Calgary Doctor of Nursing programme addresses key gaps that currently exist within nursing education. Few existing programmes directly support the development of nurses as healthcare leaders and innovators. This programme enables nurse leaders to leverage their front-line experience into senior system-level leadership roles. Each core course includes a building block assignment that develops key doctoral skills: framing research questions, appraising literature, selecting methods and data, planning ethically sound projects, and translating evidence into persuasive arguments for policy or system change.
Conclusion:
Nurses play a vital role in healthcare around the world. The University of Calgary Doctor of Nursing programme recognises the value of investing in nursing leaders and emboldening them to leverage their frontline leadership experience to advance data-driven change, innovation, and policy development in the complex healthcare systems in which they work and lead.
Implications For The Profession:
Currently, there is a dearth of programmes available to prepare nurses for senior leadership roles in healthcare or related organisations, despite significant demand from prospective students and employers alike. The University of Calgary Doctor of Nursing programme meets the workforce demand for a programme focused on nursing leadership, to advance health systems through skill development in systems innovation, appraisal of evidence and implementation science, as well as quality assurance/quality improvement and programme evaluation. This programme focus also better equips students to examine and evaluate systemic inequities and challenges currently facing healthcare systems, practitioners and users.
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