Doctor of Philosophy Program Curriculum
FALL 1st YEAR
| COURSE | COURSE TITLE and TOPIC | UNITS |
|---|---|---|
| NRS 201 | Health Status and Care Systems: Comparative health status data, major current health issues globally, nationally and regionally. Theoretical perspectives on social, political, economic determinants of health. Health-care systems examined, linked to data, and evaluated in regard to outcomes. Aging, rural, ethnic minority populations highlighted. | 4 |
| NRS 205A | Overview of Research Design: Critical survey of the basic paradigms in health research. | 2 |
| NRS 291 | Doctoral Seminar: Socialization to doctoral level scholarship. Focus on the theory, research and knowledge relevant to one of two fields of emphasis: population health or health systems. Emphasis placed on reading, critique and synthesis of classic and cutting-edge research in nursing and health care. | 2 |
| TBD | Statistics Course: Varies by student. Doctoral students will be required to take 12 units of appropriate analytic method courses such as the following:
|
4 |
| TOTAL | 12 | |
WINTER 1st YEAR
| COURSE | COURSE TITLE and TOPIC | UNITS |
|---|---|---|
| NRS 203 | Leadership in Health Care: Critical examination of leadership from a variety of theoretical and philosophical perspectives; focuses on specific challenges in health care and leadership at various levels, e.g., patient, organizational and policy levels. | 4 |
| NRS 205B | Research Design in Nursing and Health Care: Quantitative: An examination of the principles of quantitative data collection and analysis appropriate to specific quantitative designs. | 4 |
| NRS 210Y | Applied Health Informatics: Within the conceptual framework of the Foundation of Knowledge model, this course integrates nursing science, information science, computer science and cognitive science to acquire, process, generate and disseminate knowledge. Informatics applications that affect health care and nursing will be emphasized. | 4 |
| NRS 291 | Doctoral Seminar: Focus on the theory, research and knowledge relevant to one of two fields of emphasis: population health or health systems. Emphasis placed on reading, critique and synthesis of classic and cutting-edge research in nursing and health care. | 2 |
| TOTAL | 14 | |
SPRING 1st YEAR
| COURSE | COURSE TITLE and TOPIC | UNITS |
|---|---|---|
| NRS 202 | Implementation Science: Change processes in health care from political, historic, economic and sociologic frameworks. Historic and current examples of transformative change in the health-care system. Skills for system transformation through health policy, practice, research and education are emphasized. | 4 |
| NRS 291 | Doctoral Seminar: Focus on the theory, research and knowledge relevant to one of two fields of emphasis: population health or health systems. Emphasis placed on reading, critique and synthesis of classic and cutting-edge research in nursing and health care. | 2 |
| NRS 205C | Research Design in Nursing and Health Care: Qualitative: An examination of the principles of qualitative data collection and analysis appropriate to specific qualitative designs. | 4 |
| TBD | Research Methodology Courses or Electives. | 2 |
| TOTAL | 12 | |
FALL 2nd YEAR
| COURSE | COURSE TITLE and TOPIC | UNITS |
|---|---|---|
| NRS 291 | Doctoral Seminar: Focus on the theory, research and knowledge relevant to one of two fields of emphasis: population health or health systems. Emphasis placed on reading, critique and synthesis of classic and cutting-edge research in nursing and health care. | 2 |
| CLH 205 | Introduction to Medical Statistics. | 4 |
| TBD | Elective(s): Students choose from elective courses from the School of Nursing in their areas of interest or from any UC Davis course approved by the graduate adviser. | 6 |
| TOTAL | 12 | |
WINTER 2nd YEAR
| COURSE | COURSE TITLE and TOPIC | UNITS |
|---|---|---|
| NRS 291 | Doctoral Seminar: Focus on the theory, research and knowledge relevant to one of two fields of emphasis: population health or health systems. Emphasis placed on reading, critique and synthesis of classic and cutting-edge research in nursing and health care. | 2 |
| TBD | Elective(s): Students choose from elective courses from the School of Nursing in their areas of interest or from any UC Davis course approved by the graduate adviser. | 10 |
| TOTAL | 12 | |
SPRING 2nd YEAR
| COURSE | COURSE TITLE and TOPIC | UNITS |
|---|---|---|
| NRS 291 | Doctoral Seminar: Focus on the theory, research and knowledge relevant to one of two fields of emphasis: population health or health systems. Emphasis placed on reading, critique and synthesis of classic and cutting-edge research in nursing and health care. | 2 |
| TBD | Elective(s): Students choose from elective courses from the School of Nursing in their areas of interest or from any UC Davis course approved by the graduate adviser. | 10 |
| TOTAL | 12 | |
YEAR 3
| COURSE | COURSE TITLE and TOPIC | UNITS |
|---|---|---|
| NRS 291D | Doctoral Seminar: Focus on the theory, research and knowledge relevant to one of two fields of emphasis: population health or health systems. Emphasis placed on reading, critique and synthesis of classic and cutting-edge research in nursing and health care. | 2 |
| NRS 299 | Dissertation Research and Writing: Students in nursing science and health care Leadership graduate programs conduct dissertation research and writing under the supervision of a faculty member. | Variable |
| TOTAL | 12 | |
YEAR 4
| COURSE | COURSE TITLE and TOPIC | UNITS |
|---|---|---|
| NRS 291D | Doctoral Seminar: Focus on the theory, research and knowledge relevant to one of two fields of emphasis: population health or health systems. Emphasis placed on reading, critique and synthesis of classic and cutting-edge research in nursing and health care. | 2 |
| NRS 299 | Dissertation Research and Writing: Students in nursing science and health care leadership graduate programs conduct dissertation research and writing under the supervision of a faculty member. | Variable |
| TOTAL | 12 | |
ELECTIVES
Students may select from the list of elective courses below. Students may also choose elective courses from the UC Davis catalog or other UC campuses with approval from the graduate adviser.
| COURSE | COURSE TITLE and TOPIC | UNITS |
|---|---|---|
| NRS 213 | Race and Health in the United States: Race as a social construct and unequal health care distribution in the United States. Practical health care leadership to end racial inequalities in health. | 3 |
| NRS 301 | Learner-Centered Teaching: This course focuses on learner-centered teaching. Students will explore best practices in adult learning, performance-based curriculum models, instructional design, and assessing/evaluating student learning. Students will have experience in planning learner-centered activities that are engaging and effective in achieving desired student performance. Lab/practicum experience optional. | 3-4 |
| NRS 302 | Teaching Methods - Use of Emerging Technologies to Improve Student Learning: Students will examine, design and develop instructional strategies that use innovative and emerging technologies to promote motivation, performance and learning in health professions education. Research findings associated with use of various emerging technologies will be examined. | 4 |
| NRS 303 | Professional Role Formation: This course explores the role of an educator in both academic and service settings. Topics include role expectations, legal and regulatory issues, professional ethics, educational scholarship, individual differences, creating a safe and effective learning environment and life-long learning. Placements for students who elect to take the optional practicum are arranged in a wide variety of settings including within academic programs and service settings. Lab/practicum experience optional. | 2-4 |
| NRS 306 | Nature of Family Caregiving: This course explores theoretical and conceptual frameworks to enable clinicians to understand the complex nature of family caregiving. Students examine and apply frameworks to conduct comprehensive person and family-based assessments and interventions incorporating the multiple aspects of family caregiving. | 4 |
| NRS 307 | Family Centered Communication and Shared Decision-Making: This course incorporates the principles of shared decision-making and group communication to address family integrated care planning and challenging clinical discussions. It focuses on competencies needed by health professionals to partner effectively with care recipients and family caregivers to enhance the family caregiving experience and reduce or eliminate negative sequelae over the course of the caregiving trajectory. | 4 |
| NRS 308 | Comprehensive Care Plan Development: This course synthesizes assessment data and an understanding of how technology and individual, family, sociocultural, health care system, and illness-related variables impact specific family caregiving situations. Students incorporate this synthesis with the shared decision-making process integrating family to develop a comprehensive evidence-based plan of care to facilitate the health and well-being of family caregivers and their family members. | 4 |
| NRS 493A | Improving Quality in Health Care: Working in interdisciplinary teams, will explore the theory and practical methods being employed to make improvement in health-care systems while providing an opportunity for interprofessional educational experience. | 3 |
| NRS 493B | Improving Quality in Health Care: Working in interdisciplinary teams, will explore the theory and practical methods being employed to make improvement in health-care systems while providing an opportunity for interprofessional educational experience. | 3 |
| NRS 493C | Enhancing Patient Safety in Health Care: Interprofessional module is designed to explore the theory and practical methods being employed to improve patient safety in health care while providing an opportunity for interprofessional educational experience. | 3 |
