International doctoral education in nursing

Four doctoral students joined Dean Hill and Dr Marie Nolan to attend the International Network for Doctoral Education in Nursing (INDEN) biennial meeting in Malta in early May.

INDEN is a group of nurse educators and doctoral students from around the globe who are passionate about improving the health of all people through research and doctoral education. The organization aims to enable collegial exchange and lay the groundwork for global collaboration.

The meeting provided the opportunity to meet with other doctoral students and faculty from more than 10 countries and discuss the future of nursing doctoral education. Many countries still do not have doctoral nursing programs and other countries are just formulating programs now and are looking for models to follow. Several of the students attending the meeting presented posters of their original research, which also facilitated the exchange of knowledge and ideas.

Dean Hill gave a very inspiring address to close the meeting – a call to arms of sorts for the advancement of nursing and to advance nursing research globally.  In her remarks, Dean Hill noted the increasing global health burden caused by aging populations and increasing rates of chronic disease and encouraged nurses to be leading inter-disciplinary strategies of addressing these growing concerns.  She highlighted successful international doctoral education collaborative programs, such as the partnership between Johns Hopkins University and Peking Union Medical College, and called for greater international collaboration.  Her inspiring address spurred faculty and students to consider new possibilities for nursing practice, teaching and research in both inter-disciplinary and international relationships.  Dr Nolan was inaugurated as the new President of INDEN at the close of the meeting and has great hopes of further promoting and expanding the organization in the years to come.

Unfortunately there was not enough “play time” to really get out and explore Malta as much as we all would

have liked. But we all loved and enjoyed what we saw and would happily go back to explore more. Malta was an excellent choice for a nursing conference as it was home to the hospices or hospitals of the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St. John. These hospices provided a place to rest, to recover, or to die in dignity dating back to the 16th century. Also the SON alumni pin is based on the Maltese cross which is the symbol associated with the Knights of St. John.