DrPH?

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I'm a practicing Psych/Mental Health nurse practitioner, and I am also currently in the process of getting a post-masters in Perinatal Nursing and I'm planning on pursuing doctorate studies sometime in the near future and I'm interested in hearing from any other RN or APRN who has a DrPH, or is considering getting a DrPH.

The majority of my work, both psychiatric and perinatal, has been community based, usually in-home or in-school, with a fairly sizable health education component as well and I'm very interested in program/curriculum development, access to care issues and general policy concerns. However, I'd also really enjoy getting involved in academics at some point, university level teaching, program development, that sort of thing, and a doctorate is basically de riguer in academic circles, I'm just not sure which one is a good fit for me!

I'm not really interested too heavily in straight research, although I am interested in program analysis/efficacy research, but not really true nursing science, you know? So, I don't think a PhD is a good fit for that one purpose alone, although I'd love to hear other opinions about that. So the I thought about the DNP, which is more clinically geared than the PhD of course, but after speaking with some of my previous professors (two of whom have DrPH's!) they mentioned looking into the DrPH over the DNP, as my interests, per them, lay in more "public health-y" type fields and not pure nursing fields. What do you all think? Does that make sense? Would DrPH be a poor use of time and money and energy? Does anyone out there on this site have a DrPH already? I'm feeling very overwhelmed by my options and I'm really not sure where to go at this point! Thanks!

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide

Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP

8 Articles; 4,362 Posts

Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.

Hi, I have no advice but wanted to say that I have looked into DrPH programs myself and the degree does have appeal for sure. However, it seems like there are pre-requisites for those who didn't have an MPH prior to starting in the program I looked at. Also, not sure where you are interested in attending but I looked at UC Berkeley's program and it is quite intimidating I must admit.

olenska

3 Posts

Hey Juan,

I was actually looking at the Berkeley program as well! Or UCLA or Loma Linda, basically the California schools! And that section at Berkeley about "core course deficiencies" gave me pause as well, but I feel like maybe some of those pre-reqs might be waived after taking our nursing education and work experience into consideration, don't you think? Not all of them, of course, but maybe a few of them possibly. I looked into the MPH program at UCLA a few years back and I didn't meet all the requirements to get into the accelerated professional option, so I sent them my CV and let me know that I would qualify based on work experience and nursing education. I mean, I know that's not a DrPH program and that every school does things differently, but maybe that speaks to some wiggle room in public health overall? I'm not sure...

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide

Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP

8 Articles; 4,362 Posts

Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.

The Berkeley admission stats is what intimidates me (16% of applicants were admitted). Anyway, I'm still torn between getting a Nursing PhD, a DNP, or this one.

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