Beginning this semester, Southeastern’s College of Nursing is offering a doctorate program. According to Dr. Ann Carruth, the dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Southeastern is now one of four public universities to offer a nursing doctorate in Louisiana.
The decision to add a nursing doctoral program was due to several national campaigns that encouraged the continued education of health professionals. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation published a report in 2010 that recommended doubling the number of nurses in the United States with doctorate degrees.
“We worked closely with the dean and associate dean at ULL to develop a collaborative partnership,” said Carruth. “The process for applying included multiple steps: approval at the ULS system; approval at BOR system, approval of Louisiana State Board of Nursing, approval from Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. We are now working to gain CCNE accreditation as our undergraduate and graduate programs have been approved.”
Currently less than one percent of the over 55,000 nurses in Louisiana have a doctorate, a percentage which the college of nursing hopes to increase through its own program. The college of nursing will admit students into the doctorate program once per year and expects around ten new students each year, according to Carruth.
“We have eleven great students,” said Carruth of the first semester of nursing doctorate students. “All of them are nurse leaders among their peers.  We have nine nurse practitioners and two nurse executives.”
By adding this program at Southeastern, Carruth hopes that fewer nurses in Louisiana will have to leave the state to receive their doctorate.
“Many nurses who wanted a DNP have had to go out of state,” said Carruth. “Getting this degree advances nurse education opportunities for Louisiana.”
The doctorate program promises to offer nursing students many new learning opportunities.
“This will provide many interprofessional collaborative opportunities for students and faculty across the university to research complex health care issues,” said Carruth. “For example, the doctoral students will have advanced knowledge of epidemiology, healthcare management, informatics, population based care and biostatistics to effect change within integrated healthcare systems.”
The College of Nursing hopes to hire a few medical experts to teach for the doctoral program.
“The tuition offsets the costs associated with teaching,” said Carruth. “We are using experts in the field to teach. For example, we hope to hire a biostatistician from an area hospital to teach so students get real world experience.”
For more information about the nursing doctorate program, contact the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at 985-549-3772.