Doctorial dissertations on nurse practitioners: 1970-2000.
OBJECTIVE
To understand more about the nurse practitioner (NP) profession, a study was undertaken of the dissertation literature.


METHODS
A search of Dissertation Abstracts Online yielded 134 dissertations that included NPs in the title or abstract and were awarded between 1970 and 2000.


CONCLUSIONS
Most of the degrees are either PhD (61%) or EdD (27%). State-based universities produced the most degrees (70%) and six universities accounted for one-fourth of the degrees. The topics of NP-focused dissertations are wide ranging and include history, medical economics and managed care, NP education and professional role, and clinical and behavioral research.


CONCLUSIONS
This dataset provides an important source of information for research on the NP profession.
Hooker
Roderick S
RS
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Division of Health Services Research, Dallas, TX, USA. Roderick.hooker@utsouthwestern.edu
Mayo
Helen G
HG
D004212:Academic Dissertations as Topic; D004511:Education, Nursing, Graduate / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D009656:North America; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology; D015399:Nursing Research / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends*