Teaching Matters

40 - Liz Cummings (2)

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Teaching Matters | Presentation Details |

Title

Partnership the key to a successful Professional Doctorate Programme


Author(s)

Kim Walker*, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health
Elizabeth Cummings*, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health


Subtheme

Supervision as Pedagogy


Presentation Type

Spotlight on Practice


Room

Meeting Room


Time

14.20-15.20


Abstract

This presentation will describe the establishment of a Doctor of Health programme through the collaboration and cooperation of St Vincent’s Private Hospital and the University of Tasmania.
Current and future healthcare leaders are tasked with addressing the increasingly complex challenges of providing safe, quality, effective, and efficient patient-centred care with limited resources. Whilst Australia generally has a well-qualified, high functioning healthcare workforce the imperative to ensure they are equipped to lead healthcare in the 21st century is paramount. Doctoral education, based in the workplace and designed to improve healthcare while up skilling professionals in workplace-based research, has been identified as the appropriate means to achieve these goals. The development and sustainability of a successful professional doctorate degree requires strong partnerships between the university and healthcare sector partners, enhanced by mutual agreement, understanding of, and commitment to the integration of professional expertise and scholarly inquiry (Walker et al. 2016).
Rolfe and Davies (2009:p1265) identified that ’Professional doctorates have arisen out of dissatisfaction with the traditional PhD which is perceived as too distant from practice; study at doctoral level is now increasingly relevant to those working outside academe’. Malloch & Cairns (2014) note the professional doctorate is both more appropriate and useful to healthcare practitioners and organisations as it delivers ‘researching professionals’ as opposed to ‘professional researchers’.
With the recent release of the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) Report (McGagh et al. 2016) and its emphasis on the importance of improving the links between universities and industry the professional doctorate has become increasingly important as an industry development and engagement strategy for universities. For this to thrive requires that the critical balance of support in both organisations has been fostered and demonstrated in the relationship of mutual respect and learning in our partnership based professional doctorate programme.
References
Walker, K, Campbell, S, Duff, J and Cummings, EA (2016) “Doctoral education for nurses today: the PhD or professional doctorate?”, The Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, 34 (1) pp. 60-69.
Rolfe G and Davies R (2009) Second generation professional doctorates in nursing. International Journal of Nursing Studies 46: 1265-1273.
Malloch M and Cairns L (2014) “Has the PhD a future as the highest level degree for professionals?” The International Conference on Professional Doctorates, Cardiff.
McGagh, J, Marsh, H, Western, M, Thomas, P, Hastings, A, Mihailova, M, Wenham, M (2016) Review of Australia’s Research Training System. Report for the Australian Council of Learned Academies. Available from www.acola.org.au.

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