Ph.D. in Health Professions Education
Description
The Ph.D. in Health Professions Education (HPED) develops transformative educators who inspire, design, lead and evaluate evidence-based instructional and curriculum innovation within a variety of health professions learning contexts, ensuring that clinicians and faculty are prepared to meet the evolving healthcare needs of individuals, families and communities across the continuum of healthcare. In addition, the PhD program prepares students to conduct rigorous, original research to inform best practices in teaching and learning.
Our students include nurses, nutrition professionals, pharmacists, physician assistants, genetic counselors, occupational, physical, and speech therapists, public health practitioners, social workers, athletic trainers, radiologists, paramedics and surgical technicians. Students debate issues and trends in higher education, learn the principles of teaching strategy, analyze professional health curricula, and conceptualize the values and ethical systems of the health professional.
Doctoral experience is essential for the advancement of academic and professional educators. Ordinarily, our program is a hybrid, taught both online and onsite. For fall 2020, all courses will be online due to COVID-19. Full-time PhD coursework (two courses per semester) is typically completed in 3 years followed by a rigorous research study preparing you to work in higher education and in professional education programs in health care.
Learning Outcomes
After completing this program, students will be able to:
- Analyze social, political, economic, and scientific trends in healthcare including policies and structures that require meaningful transformations in health professions education.
- Navigate health professions educational systems and organizations in order to implement successful innovation.
- Apply educational theories and principles of cognitive and learning science to enhance student learning in health professions education.
- Design and deliver creative and impactful lessons, courses, curricula, and programs in health professions education.
- Identify, evaluate, and apply evidence-based teaching strategies.
- Design learning environments and organizational structures to intentionally and equitably support and engage all learners, particularly those from historically marginalized groups.
- Develop and implement processes and tools to assess learning outcomes and evaluate programs in order to inform and improve practice.
- Critically analyze and evaluate research in health professions education, marshaling evidence in support of arguments and using data to support educational practice.
- Design and conduct ethical and scientifically rigorous original research that informs best practices in health professions education
- Apply principles of ethical and inclusive educational leadership and management practices aligned with current research and theories of leadership in organizations
- Demonstrate proficiency in the range of research methods relevant to health professions education and in the collection, analysis, interpretation, and communication of data and evidence
- Critically analyze existing published research and theoretical underpinnings in order to identify areas amenable to further research
- Disseminate results of scholarly work in peer-reviewed journals, books, conferences, and other professional venues
Requirements for entry into program
Applicants must have a Master's degree or higher academic degree in a health professions specialty from a regionally accredited US post-secondary institution. Practical experience within the healthcare arena within the past three years and an overall GPA of 3.0 in undergraduate and graduate studies are also required.
GRE scores from within five years prior to the application deadline sent by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) directly to Simmons University are required. The GRE requirement are waived if the applicant’s overall graduate GPA is 3.5 or higher.
Program Details
The HPED curriculum has two major components: education and research. The Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study (CAGS) courses of the HPED program provide the foundation of educational knowledge and theory. These courses are taught exclusively online.
The courses in the PhD program provide the background and theory for the research portion culminating in a health professions education-related dissertation research project. These courses are usually taught onsite at Simmons University. For fall 2020, due to COVID-19, all courses will be online.
Flexible programs of study are available for this PhD program.
Degree requirements
Credits
48 Credits
6-credits/semester sequence
Fall Year 1
| HPED 520 | Trends in Health Profession Education | 3 |
| HPED 521 | Learning Theory and Practice | 3 |
Spring Year 1
| HPED 530 | Principles of Inquiry & Evidence in Education | 3 |
| HPED 531 | Teaching Methods, Course Design, and Assessment | 3 |
Summer Year 1
| HPED 540 | Curriculum Development, Program Design, and Evaluation | 3 |
| CNBH 661 | Applied Statistics I | 3 |
| OR | |
| SW 651 | Intro to Stat & Data Analysis | 3.00 |
Fall Year 2
| HPED 541 | Education Application and Immersion Experience | 3 |
| CNBH 666 | Quantitative Research Methods | 3 |
Spring Year 2
| CNBH 663 | Design of Qualitative Research Methods | 3 |
| OR | |
| SW 654 | Qualitative Research Methods | 3.00 |
| CNBH 665 | Leadership and Organizational Change in Health Professions Education | 3 |
Summer Year 2
| CNBH 664 | Qualitative Research Analysis | 3.00 |
| OR | |
| SW 635 | Qualitative Data Analysis | 3.00 |
Fall Year 3
| CNBH 662 | Applied Statistical Analysis II | 3 |
| OR | |
| SW 652 | Introduction to Multivariate Statistics | 3.00 |
| CNBH 660 | Perspectives in Research and Theory in Health Profession Education | 3 |
Winter Intersession
| Winter Comprehensive Exam (P/F) | |
Spring Year 3
Summer Year 3
| May begin dissertation if proposal defended successfully in spring | |
Year 4
Capstone, placement, internship, practicum, etc.
HPED 541 is a 100 hour immersion experience in the field of higher education individualized to help you achieve your career aspirations. You will work with faculty to identify a PhD prepared educator to work with for a full semester who will provide advice and mentorship to help you apply the theories, concepts, principles, and research learned throughout the educational courses.