Quality in graduate nursing education

NURSING EDUCATION PERSPECTIVES Celebrates 25 Years in 2005 THIS IS THE THIRD IN A SERIES OF KEY ARTICLES FROM THE FIRST 20 YEARS OF Nursing Education Perspectives REPRINTED TO CELEBRATE 25 YEARS OF PUBLICATION. WITH THIS CLASSIC ARTICLE BY DR. WILLIAM L. HOLZEMER, ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN Nursing & Health Care IN DECEMBER 1982, WE OFFER COMMENTARY BY DR. BETSY FRANK. WILLIAM L. HOLZEMER EXCELLENCE IN GRADUATE EDUCATION may be better visualized when it is absent from a program than when it is present. It is known that excellence is related to various dimensions or components of higher education, such as faculty and students. There also is agreement that programs vary in quality. What are the characteristics of quality in which programs may vary? As difficult as it is to delineate these characteristics, the quantification of these characteristics or criteria is more problematic (1). * Once criteria have been identified and quantified, the issue of comparing programs with themselves or with other programs is raised. Should the documentation of quality of graduate education in nursing focus upon rank ordering of schools from high to low - a norm-referenced system - or should it allow the comparison of the program's achievement of various quality characteristics against prespecified criteria - a criterion-referenced system? BOTH SYSTEMS OF COMPARISON ARE SUPPORTED HERE FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES. The focus in this article is on the quality of doctoral education in nursing. The Council of Graduate Schools in the United States defines graduate education as "post-baccalaureate programs of (nursing) and research leading to master's and doctoral degrees. The functions of graduate education are the acquisition, transmission, preservation, application, and refinement of knowledge" (2). These functions are all valid goals. However, programs may differ in their emphasis or may not select all of these goals as appropriate to their mission. Hence, different graduate programs have differing goals. Comparing the focus of master's and doctoral levels of preparation in nursing is also important. At master's degree level, programs focus upon role preparation; that is, clinical specialist, practitioner, educator, and administrator. Although doctoral education in nursing may include role preparation, the focus is on theory development, advanced clinical and knowledge acquisition, and research training. As the attention of scholars in nursing education focuses in depth on doctoral preparation, there may be a need to rethink the function of the master's degree. As a discipline, nursing may not be well served using the master's degree for role preparation. However, as a profession, nursing has developed advanced clinical and functional preparation that appears logical and well articulated with baccalaureate education. This distinction between role preparation at the master's degree level and research at the doctoral degree level is a unique characteristic of the discipline of nursing. Although this article focuses on quality of graduate education in nursing, with a prime focus on doctoral preparation, it will be possible to generalize about the master's degree level. This article hypothesizes that focusing on excellence in graduate education may provide a mechanism for making informed decisions during a time of economic restraints, pressures from the practice realm, and disbelief by colleagues in other health professions, and/or in other disciplines, as to the viability of graduate education in nursing. Related Literature Various authors have reviewed the extensive literature on criteria for accreditation in higher education. Four summaries are reviewed here: the Graduate Council, Harris, Troutt, and Lawrence and Green (2-5). The list of the respective criteria that these authors determined as criteria for quality assessment is presented in Table 1. Immediately upon examining these various sets of criteria, one is struck by their commonality. …