This could turn into a good thread - I certainly want to encourage
others to contribute.

Disclaimer - my phd is in nursing and I am going to continue to play
devils' advocate for a time...

If, as Howard suggests, there are 80 PhD programs in nursing there are
certainly likely to be access issues involved. If we consider just
states like NY, CA, IL, FL, NC that have more than one phd program in
nursing there are clearly many states that have little if any choice
in programs available. Distance education is a way around that but it
is not at all the same experience as sitting with a cohort and
benefitting directly from that experience. It also tends to be very
expensive when out of state tuition is considered.

In any event - for each decision-maker - the decision rests on highly
individual personal and professional factors: location, access,
expense, time, curriculum, future plans, institutional imperatives,
global, local, and personal economic issues, politics, family or other
commitments... What is good for nursing may or may not be good for a
specific individual and what is good for a specific individual may or
may not carry costs for nursing.

Diversity - an interesting issue. If schools should not, and I believe
they should not, hire their own grads in order to promote diversity of
thought - wouldn't diversity of thought be even more enhanced by
interdisciplinary studies rather than drawing faculty solely from
doctoral nursing programs? When a doctorally prepared statistician (a
not uncommon occurrence on nursing faculties) works in a nursing
program do they not bring a different orientation with them and do not
both nursing and statistics benefit from the cross-pollination? Don't
they begin to understand nursing better as they participate with
nurses and do not nurses' research skills (quantitative and possibly
qualitative) improve as they participate with the statistician? How
about anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and education?

As a graduate of a program that says they will not hire their own
grads I am well aware that there are a tremendous number of their own
masters grads in non-tenure track positions and clinical faculty
positions. So when we say a school should not hire its own grads we
might also want to evaluate how that plays out in practice - if it
only means we will not hire our own PhDs in tenure track positions it
may be a self-defeating position as the proportion of all faculty that
attended the university rises and the prerogatives for participation
in faculty governance of those non-enfranchised faculty members falls.

If we look at the leaders who have so influenced the development of
nursing in the 20th century - didn't most of them (and nursing)
benefit from their cross-disciplinary doctoral studies? Hasn't nursing
been greatly enriched by those who trained in other disciplines at the
doctoral level? One of the downsides of the practices in the academy
are that "existential" philosophy departments do not hire logical
positivists because their thinking is considered to be too disruptive
rather than enhancing diversity. Likewise, positivist departments tend
not to hire existentialists. A nursing school filled with
post-modernists is unlikely to be attracted to a candidate interested
in clinical trials research and also unlikely to be attractive to such
a candidate.

One of the strengths and challenges of nursing is that we seek to
combine human knowledge on behalf of our clients. Is this not enhanced
by diversity in doctoral training? I am certainly inclined to the view
that my training in math, statistics and social work have all informed
my nursing practice in unexpected and beneficial ways.

I am not at all suggesting that the further development of doctoral
nursing programs is inappropriate, nor am I suggesting that people
should avoid doctoral nursing programs - just reflecting on how we got
where we did and how an individual considering doctoral study might
want to approach their individual decision...

Perhaps we might hear (in this thread) from some people whose doctoral
preparation is outside nursing about how those experiences informed
their practice as well as those whose doctoral work was in nursing...

Bear