Nursing Ph.D.s in demand

As the demand for doctorally-trained nurses increases in many parts of the world, Penn's smallest school will soon be having a large impact on Israel, South Korea and other countries. Over 50 international students from 24 different countries study at Penn's School of Nursing, and many of them come from countries whose healthcare policies are completely different from those in the U.S. -- places with socialized medicine or a severe lack of medical research centers. And, according to Nursing School Dean Afaf Meleis, several of these international students will return to their countries and be the first nurse practitioners or nurses with doctoral degrees. Penn-educated nurses will be the first to make the world of doctors and hospitals listen to the informed voices of the nursing community, Meleis said. Rachel Yaffa Zisk, a Nursing Ph.D. student from Israel, was encouraged to come to the U.S. by faculty at the Hadassah Hospital of the Hebrew University. Currently, there are no clinical nursing master's programs in Israel, and the Hadassah Hospital is attempting to develop the first. "We are sent here because we are intended for a specific purpose," Zisk said. "They expect me to come back and build the pediatric component [of the master's program] and head it." Yu-Ru Lin, a Nursing doctoral candidate from Taiwan, also said that there is a new demand for nurses with doctoral degrees in her country -- although two doctoral programs have been established in Taiwan, many more advanced practice nurses are needed to establish more programs. Lin added that in Taiwan, many nurses work as lobbyists to change federal healthcare policy. "For mental health, we are in great need of home care," Lin said, adding that she wants to bring the ideas she learns here back to Taiwan. "That is why I came to Penn, to learn U.S. practices of psychiatric home care and about the [U.S.] federal government's health policies." Lin said that her dream is to develop the first psychiatric home care system in Taiwan. "Taiwanese society can benefit from what I learn here," Lin said. "It is still my dream, but I hope one day it will be true." Eun-Hi Kong, a Nursing Ph.D. student from South Korea, said that nurses in her country who obtain their doctorate degrees will almost always become faculty at nursing schools. "I am sure that if we graduate from this school, we can influence" nursing policy, Kong said. Kong added that three senators in South Korea are nurses, evidence that the influence of nurses is expanding. "For the process of passing reform acts, nurses' influence is very great, as most health professionals are nurses," she said. Additionally, as nursing faculty write many prominent articles, nurses will be able to effect change on major South Korean health issues, such as the lack of a healthcare budget to take care of the growing elderly population -- Kong said that nurses trained in the U.S. will be able to bring valuable data to South Korea on the positive effects that home care has on the elderly. Tae-Youn Kim, another Nursing Ph.D. student from South Korea, said that she would like to learn more about nursing practices in the U.S., adding that she knows several international Ph.D. students at Penn who are interested in working on healthcare policy issues and want to bring ideas they learn here about nursing homes and long-term care back to their own countries.