PhD vs. DNP

I guess I didn't think before I wrote that about research vs. teaching. The graduate level faculties of schools with which I am familiar were very research-oriented, sometimes to the point that the professors who were considered the best researchers were not necessarily the best teachers. These were state universities, one at a major medical center and another close enough that they wanted to compete. As I think about what I want to do with the rest of my life, I find research a bit more intriguing. I am not fond of statistics but I could focus more on qualitative rather than quantitative research. I would like to learn more about both. I also really "get into" nursing theory and, while I doubt that Moogie's Grand Theory for Nursing and Life will ever be more than a fantasy, it would be gratifying to be able to contribute something meaningful to the body of nursing knowledge.

I really don't want a clinical role in the future. I am 50 and have recently been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I don't have the stamina to work the floors; I'm not sure if I would have the physical stamina to work as a nurse practitioner. I don't want to teach clinicals and I don't want to try to combine teaching with trying to work in a nurse-run clinic. I do love contact with patients and their families and have been blessed to have been able to do floor nursing for a good chunk of my career. But it's time to get real. What can I realistically expect to do when I have issues with chronic pain and fatigue? I can write and I can think. The more I study, the less fibro fog I have. But when I'm active, even trying to stand eight hours at a med cart, I hurt and get tired. It's time for something else.

You raise a good point about DNP as "second class faculty". While at this juncture, I can't say where I'll be in five years so I don't know if tenure will be important to me, what is important is that I will be employable. I think I will be a stronger job candidate with a PhD than with a DNP---at least for what I want in my career.

Thank you all for your insight and advice!

I guess I don't see the issue from quite that perspective. Going for a doctorate is an investment in terms of time, money and work. I'm not independently wealthy so I can't just go to school for personal enlightenment. At my age and with a chronic pain and fatigue disorder that limits my physical strength, stamina and levels of energy, I need to be reasonably assured that the educational path I take will be the most employable in terms of the goals I wish to meet. I can't just go back to school, find out that I can't get a teaching job in a school of nursing with my degree, and go back to working bedside. At this juncture I don't feel I can afford to make a mistake in furthering my education or my career in nursing is essentially done.

I wanted to make sure that I was not getting bad advice from a dean who "assured" me that the DNP is perfectly adequate for didactic teaching in baccalaureate and even graduate schools of nursing. From the posters who have answered me here, it seems that the dean may be telling me what she thinks I want to hear. Truth is? I want to know the truth. If this degree over here will help me achieve my goals but that degree over there won't, I guess my decision is easy. But if the first school says they're a good fit and the second one says so as well, it's up to me to figure out what's really true and fits my needs.

I should think this is a logical way to plan my career, especially after it was interrupted by children, several moves, a divorce and a remarriage.