Beyond the PhD: putting the right tools in your research toolbox

Abstract

Postdoctoral training is vital to a successful career for nurse researchers with a biological or biobehavioral focus. Such training provides structured time to devote to gaining substantive knowledge, expanding one's biological-methods repertoire, and writing grants. However, for unknown reasons, relatively few nurses pursue postdoctoral training. A few plausible explanations include a near critical shortage of nursing faculty coupled with an aging population in need of health care, a lack of available mentoring for predoctoral students to pursue postdoctoral training, and the difficulty of navigating the process of finding and choosing the right match for a postdoctoral experience. The purposes of this article are to provide a rationale for choosing postdoctoral training, review common fellowship opportunities, and discuss the process of finding and choosing the right match for postdoctoral training. The authors provide two prospective plans for postdoctoral training and include a plan for staying on track during the postdoctoral experience.

Figure 1

Sample of an individual development plan (IDP) template.

Figure 2

Roles of the protégé and mentor in the development and implementation of an individual development plan (IDP). SOURCE: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology’s Individual Development Plan (http://opa.faseb.org/pdf/idp.pdf).