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Apply hereDoctor of philosophy in nursing
Change is a given in the nursing profession, no matter your education or background. If you’re a registered nurse or nurse practitioner, you routinely implement new technologies and think about how you can better serve your patients. If you’ve moved up into instruction or leadership, you’re empowering these on-the-ground professionals through a mixture of confidence and clinical know-how. In parallel, your work as a policymaker or public health professional impacts care quality, delivery, access and outcomes on a broader scale.
But you want to keep growing. Nursing scholars continue to rethink both clinical and instructional methodologies, collecting and examining data to propose new treatments, influence health care policies or upgrade curricula. If you strive to propel the field forward through these avenues, Mizzou Online's doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) in nursing program embraces your spark and helps you grow your authority.
The blended structure mixes on-campus sessions, live virtual chats and asynchronous courses to encourage professional mentorship, enlightening peer conversations and original, transformative scholarship around your schedule. Whatever your educational or professional background, the intensive yet flexible curriculum helps strengthen your grasp of research design and data analysis, explores the theoretical and philosophical side of the nursing profession and requires you to complete a dissertation and presentation.
Due to the program’s research focus, the Sinclair School of Nursing (SSON) opens admission to clinical and non-clinical candidates holding a minimum of a bachelor’s degree.
About the online Ph.D. in nursing program
It takes more than ideas to drive change. To back up your potential solution, you need to design a study, gather and examine your results and translate numbers into actionable objectives.
Mizzou Online's Ph.D. in nursing program creates a platform for amplifying your ideas and acquiring the support and skills to adapt them to the health care field. By embarking on this rewarding journey, you:
- Prepare to share your research with the health care and broader academic community.
- Grow your reputation to take on a leadership role in nursing or health care policy.
- Have the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from the Sinclair School Of Nursing’s esteemed faculty.
- Connect nursing outcomes to related disciplines, including education, family and community medicine, health informatics, human development and family science, public health and social work.
- Critically evaluate existing theories and knowledge to identify new areas of inquiry.
- Explore the scientific, ethical, educational, theoretical and practical foundation of the nursing profession.
- Understand how you can uplift current and future nursing students as a teacher and mentor.
Quick facts
Official name
Doctor of Philosophy in NursingCampus
Program type
DoctorateAcademic home
Sinclair School of NursingDelivery mode
Blended, some campus visits requiredAccreditation
Higher Learning CommissionBS to PhD credit hours
77BS to PhD estimated cost
$48,510.00MS to PhD credit hours
56MS to PhD estimated cost
$35,280.00Post-clinical doctorate to PhD student credit hours
48Post-clinical doctorate to PhD student estimated cost
$30,240.00*This cost is for illustrative purposes only. Your hours and costs will differ, depending on your transfer hours, your course choices and your academic progress. See more about tuition and financial aid.
Career prospects
Career prospects
Right now, you monitor patients, develop policies or engage future professionals. This perspective clearly connects actions to outcomes but also illuminates gaps in care delivery. As you think about how you can address issues ranging from health care disparities to practitioner-to-patient ratios, Mizzou’s online Ph.D. in nursing program gives you the tools to support your solutions with data, plus the clout to publish your findings.
This format equips current nursing professionals, health administrators, health educators, occupational and physical therapists, public health professionals and social workers to pursue the following positions:
- Clinical educator
- Clinical researcher
- Clinical scholar
- Nurse executive
- Nurse scientist
Program structure
The online Ph.D. in nursing program requires at least 72 credit hours above the bachelor’s level and is open to both post-baccalaureate and post-master’s candidates.
Structure: The SSON created the Ph.D. in nursing to be a flexible, individualized program of study designed to accommodate a number of learning and professional needs. In addition to taking mostly online classes held on a semester schedule, you can attend full or part time.
Please note that the program requires a campus visit lasting a minimum of one week during the first summer of your enrollment. You will also spend four days on campus each April and attend one annual professional meeting with your research mentor. Learn more about required on-campus dates.
Curriculum: Begin with a foundational core (29 to 36 credit hours) focusing on research conduct, design and methods, as well as nursing science, ethics and theories. Following that, you’ll dive into your research as part of the individualized specialty area (27 to 39 credit hours). As your research progresses, you’ll prepare for your doctoral comprehensive examination, develop your proposal and start your dissertation project. To receive your degree, you’ll defend your project to a committee you and your advisor assemble.
During these two sequences, you have the chance to earn a graduate certificate in your collateral area. Areas include: college teaching, data science and analytics, health ethics, health informatics, life science innovation and entrepreneurship, multicultural education, nonprofit management, online educator, participatory health research, public health, positive psychology, user experience and usability, youth development specialist and youth program management and evaluation.
Advising: You’ll be paired with a research advisor based on area or population and will work together to establish a Ph.D. committee and Plan of Study, access relevant practicum experiences and begin your dissertation research.
Online learning: The SSON creates a cohesive educational experience between the on-campus and online Ph.D. in nursing programs, with opportunities for mentorship, peer collaboration and topical exploration available to all. The online program uses a mix of scheduled synchronous sessions and asynchronous courses accessed through the Canvas learning management platform. Online students are additionally encouraged to take advantage of the SSON Graduate Student Resource & Collaboration Center, Zoom video conference software, Microsoft Teams, Facebook and X (Twitter).
Program length: Time to completion depends on your academic preparation and enrollment status. If you are a part-time student with a master of science degree, for example, the course work generally takes three years to complete, followed by your comprehensive examination, plus additional time to finalize your dissertation research.
If you are a part-time student entering with a bachelor of science degree, course work may take four years to complete, followed by your comprehensive examination, plus additional time to finalize your dissertation research. Full-time students typically finish within a shorter time frame.
The average student takes about five years to fulfill all Ph.D. program requirements.
To shorten your time to completion, consider transferring up to 30 post-baccalaureate credit hours from another accredited university.
Research focus areas
Each PhD student selects one area upon which to focus. These include:
- Innovations to improve health and health systems;
- Population health and health disparities;
- Symptom and health behavior science.
Delivery
Blended, some campus visits requiredCalendar system
Semester-basedTypical program length
3 yearsTypical course load
Part timeAccreditation
The University of Missouri is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, one of six regional institutional accreditors in the United States.