Criticism of Nursing Ph.D. Curriculum from the Viewpoint of Attention to Pragmatism: with a Special Look at the Curriculum of Iran

Nursing is basically described as a practical discipline or pragmatism and there are many similarities  between it and the pragmatism. This study was designed aimed to determin the degree of adherence of nursing Ph.D. curriculum, especially in Iran, to pragmatism as a philosophical foundation.

This study is a narrative review. Using the keywords of curriculum/educational program, doctorate in nursing/ nursing Ph.D., pragmatism, and also the English equivalent of these keywords in foreign databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL and persian databases including Irandoc, Magiran and SID as well as The Google Scholar search engine was searched for studies up to the year 1402 (2023) without time limit and individually and combined.

The results showed that little attention has been paid to pragmatism as the philosophical basis of nursing Ph.D. curriculum in different countries, especially in Iran, and this problem is caused by challenges such as: the course is not responsive to the needs of society, the health system and the nursing profession, as well as neglect from the main nature of nursing field (clinical care), and excessive attention to less necessary issues.

It seems that the spirit of pragmatism is not included in the nursing curriculum (especially in Iran), while this foundation can act as a bridge between education, practice and research. Therefore, it is recommended to make changes in this educational program and move the curriculum more towards pragmatism.