The American Heart Association-Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and European Society of Cardiology-Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions postdoctoral mentoring program in cardiovascular nursing: developing cardiovascular nursing research in Lebanon.

The nursing discipline is currently witnessing an intriguing paradox. There is an international shortage of practicing nurses and nursing faculty. At the same time developments in nursing, involving advanced practice roles, graduate level education, and the significant knowledge development through research, is at its earnest. Needless to say that such developments vary substantially among countries, where in some nursing education is just starting to move beyond technical training and into university levels to the most developed countries where doctorally prepared nurses are making breakthroughs in research and theory development. Some argue that globalization, with the significant mobility of nurses, advent of electronic information, and the World Wide Web, makes it imperative that nurses aim to improve global health through their research. Although high priority health problems may vary among countries, there are more similarities than differences in terms of the health needs of various populations. Transcultural research and knowledge development became a more pressing situation given the diversity of cultures that live within some countries as a result of migration that we are witnessing worldwide. With the advent of student and faculty exchange programs between developed and developing countries and the ease of distant communication through the internet, programs of research that address health issues in various cultures have expanded our knowledge of nursing phenomena in these populations and ways to promote health, prevent illness, and maintain health using culturally sensitive interventions. Doctoral education is the mainstay for preparing nurse researchers. Doctoral programs are expanding in countries in all continents but are still lacking in many others. Data from the International Network of Doctoral Education point to doctoral programs in 31 countries, with the majority of the programs offered in the United States, compared with o10 programs in the Middle East and North Africa region. Thus nurses from developing countries often travel to more developed countries to pursue doctoral study. Moreover, whereas doctoral graduates are provided during their education with the skills needed to initiate and conduct research, launching a research career is often facilitated through postdoctoral training. Postdoctoral training provides further training related to practical aspects of planning research, as well as allowing trainees the opportunities to network with scholars in their area of interest through attending conferences and scientific meetings. For those nurses who do their doctoral study in their own countries, postdoctoral training is possible once an appropriate seasoned mentor is identified with matching research interest and adequate funds. The challenge remains for those who travel long distance to get their doctoral education but cannot stay longer for postdoctoral training, for they have to go back to their country to meet their professional commitments for the government or organization that sponsored their study. These novice researchers, who are often placed in academic positions, get immersed in From the Rafic Hariri School of Nursing, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon Address for correspondence: Samar Noureddine, PhD, RN, Rafic Hariri School of Nursing, American University of Beirut, PO Box 11-0236, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon E-mail: [email protected] Progress in Cardiovascular Nursing September 2009