The impact of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholars Program on scholars, schools and nursing science.

Background: The Future of Nursing Scholars program prepared a cadre of PhD prepared nurses for long-term careers advancing science and discovery, strengthening nursing education, and leading transformational change in health care.
Purpose: The purpose of this manuscript was to describe the program's impact on Scholars' outcomes, nursing schools, and perceived impact on nursing science.
Methods: An independent program evaluation was conducted, including interviewing representatives from schools and reviewing Scholars' Curriculum Vitae.
Findings: Two hundred one scholars were supported across 45 institutions. To date, 181 scholars graduated within 3.1 years, on average. Most graduates reported holding appointments in academic institutions. School representatives believed the program supported rapid entry into the field, longer research trajectories, and will improve the nursing faculty pipeline.
Discussion: The program achieved its goal of developing cohorts of PhD prepared nurses poised for long-term careers. It provided "proof of concept" on high-quality accelerated PhD education for students well matched with mentors, and elevated the national conversation on PhD education.
(Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)