Any RNs have a Phd and don't know what to do with it?

When I got my PhD many years ago, I realized that teaching for a university was not a good fit for me because my clinical specialty (NICU) is not taught in academia. My MSN-level jobs had been as NICU CNS and Staff Development Specialist. So I went back to that and took a job similar to the one I had left to go to school full time -- a job as a NICU Staff Development Specialist.

Over a couple of years, I managed to work that into a position with the same hospital as a hospital-wide Nursing Professional Development Specialist. I work on a lot of special projects and help people with research, EBP, and quality improvement projects. I also teach one course per semester at a local university. There are other people who make more money than I do, but I have a very flexible schedule and I do the type of work I like to do. That's not a bad way to earn a living.

What would your dream job be? What were your hopes and dreams when you decided to get the PhD?

My hospital has nurses like you. Nurses like you help the rest of us grow our profession! :) Thank you for what you do on here and offline! :)

Thank you! It's usually a pretty thankless job.

llg

Hi, yes, I tried the Clinical Educator role with much disappointment. They always, and I mean ALWAYS, pulled me to the floor. It was exhausting! I was the backup when a nurse called in. Completely unfair.

That happens a lot with lower-level clinical educator roles. But at higher levels, it rarely happens. Once you get PhD after your name, 2 additional factors come into play:

1. People assume you are making too much money and such a scarce resource that they don't want to waste such a scarce resource on direct patient care that requires only an Associate's Degree (not that the money thing is true).

2. Staff nurses and front line managers assume that anyone with a PhD must be clinically incompetent. So they don't want you anywhere near the bedside. How often do you see PhD's at the bedside?

Haha. Rarely, but I know a nurse in our neuro ICU has his PhD, teaches part time and does research. The editor (IIRC) of the Journal of Neuroscience Nursing is also a PhD that does research and works as a clinical nurse in a neuro ICU.

Wish it was similar to medicine, where attendings many times maintain clinical practice and a research practice.

That's where #1 from my earlier post comes into play. Those medical attendings are making big bucks at the bedside.