Doctoral degree in health professions: professional needs and legal requirements

Abstract:

To respond to ever increasing complexity of health care professions, education of nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, radiology engineers, and medical laboratory workers, has been upgraded to undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate university levels. In Croatia, nursing was defined as a branch of clinical medical sciences in 1997. Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have introduced the first two educational levels, but there is a strong need for the third level, i.e., doctoral degree, which should last three years and earn students 180 ECTS points. Doctoral students should learn about evidence-based advanced health care and develop the ability for independent research and critical analysis. Doctoral degrees in health professions are instrumental for academic careers of medical faculty. Yet, it does not imply that health professionals with doctoral degrees would become administrators without any contact with patients, because most of their work would still involve patients. 

Key words:
education; education, nursing, baccalaureate; education, nursing, graduate; health occupations; medical laboratory science; nurses; nurse midwives; physical therapists; technology, radiologic