Building Community Among PhD-Prepared Nurses in a Health System

ABSTRACT: PhD-prepared nurses are increasingly employed in health care delivery settings, although their roles and contributions are not well publicized. Spotlighting opportunities for PhD-prepared nurses in health systems may encourage more nurses to pursue research doctorates. The goals of this article are to demonstrate the versatility of research doctoral training by highlighting a growing community of PhD-prepared nurses working in a New York City health system and exploring their educational journeys, career pathways, and professional roles; and to describe the process of finding and sustaining a community of shared professional identity. Whether their roles explicitly included research or not, PhD-prepared nurses sought opportunities to drive organizational change, shape policy, bridge the gap between evidence generation and application, and advance the profession to improve health care delivery.