Whither nursing? Discourses underlying the attribution of master’s level performance in nursing

Whither nursing? Discourses underlying the attribution of master’s level performance in nursing Aim. Drawing upon the selected findings from a multidisciplinary study that sought to explore the meaning of master’s level performance in health professional practice, the characteristics which nurse educators attributed to the practice of master’s level nursing graduates are analysed to reveal underlying discourses. Background. Although master’s level programmes for nurses have been available in the United Kingdom (UK) for the past three decades and current heath policy directives link master’s level qualifications with senior clinical nursing roles, the contribution that master’s level education might make to the future direction of nursing is unclear. Research design and methods. In‐depth interviews were undertaken with a purposive sample of 18 nurse lecturers drawn from eight universities in the UK who were responsible for master’s level programmes in nursing. The interview agenda explored participants’ perspectives of the characteristics of master’s level performance. Drawing upon the methodology of discourse analysis, interview transcripts were interpreted in such a way as to sh