Many nurses, especially those just starting out in their careers, don’t immediately see the need to earn an advanced degree, especially a doctoral degree like the Doctor of Nursing Practice. It’s only later in most nurses’ careers that they see the value of advanced nursing education, for helping them transition into a different role or move into advanced practice.
The Institute of Medicine predicts that nurses will need to assume a greater role in primary care in the years ahead, and has challenged the nursing community to double the number of nurses with doctoral degrees by 2020.
If you’re interested in progressing to the top of the nursing field, a DNP can help you get there. This degree imparts a level of expertise that helps you hold your own as an expert in the company of psychiatrists, physicians, and other doctorate-educated care providers. A DNP prepares nurses to go in any career direction they choose, whether it’s advanced practice, nursing research, or teaching.
A DNP Prepares You for Advanced Clinical Practice
Currently, advanced practice nurses like nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and nurse anesthetists, need at least a Master of Science in Nursing. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has already started advocating for raising this standard to require new advanced practice nurses to have a doctoral education. While that doesn’t mean that those nurses currently practicing with MSNs would be out of a job, it does mean that someday soon, a DNP may be the barrier to entry into advanced practice for nurses newly entering the field.
The DNP is a practice-focused degree, unlike the Ph.D. in Nursing, which focuses on preparing nursing for a career in research and nurse education. While you’ll still be able to do research or teach if you want, a DNP is ideal for nurses who want to stay at the bedside while providing top-notch care.
You’ll Be Able to Advance the Entire Field of Nursing
When you pursue nursing education on the doctoral level, you’re becoming an expert in the field. You’re no longer merely learning from the discoveries of others — you’re adding your own discoveries to the body of nursing expertise, advancing the field as a whole. You could, for example, spend your time researching evidence-based ways to improve nursing care, like the nurse researcher Linda Aiken, who discovered through her research that hospitals with eight or more patients per nurse have higher mortality rates. You could even help shape government health care policy by helping to develop new patient-centered care models, support the development of new payment systems, change care delivery, or fundamentally alter the way ordinary people approach health care.
You Can Influence the Next Generation of Nursing Professionals
A DNP qualifies you to move into nurse education, a career change that many nurses decide to undertake as they reach the later stage of their careers. However, you don’t have to amass years of clinical experience before moving into nurse education — nursing schools around the country are facing a dire shortage of qualified, doctorate-educated nurse educators.
In 2011, nursing schools had to turn down more than 75,000 qualified applicants for no better reason than a lack of qualified instructors to teach them. Many schools would be happy to hire a doctorate-educated nurse earlier in his or her career, in order to maximize his or her productive teaching years.
While the DNP is a practice-oriented degree, that doesn’t mean you can’t put it to good use as a nursing school professor. Your students will benefit from your extensive clinical experience and your critical thinking abilities. You’ll enjoy the job security of a tenured faculty position, regular hours, and summers off.
There no limit to what you can accomplish in the nursing profession, especially if you put in the hours to earn a doctoral degree. Online DNP programs make earning your degree while holding down a full-time job and caring for a family easy. You’ll be able to join an elite cadre of nurses who are shaping health care policy and finding new, more effective patient care models every day. Earn your DNP, and see what you can do to further the nursing profession.