DNP vs EdD vs PhD

Thanks for the response! It's very nice to hear from a PhD educated nurse! Ideally, I would pursue a PhD to satisfy my intellectual curiosity, but it's difficult to overlook the availability, convenience, and cost of the DNP. I guess it depends on whether or not I'm up for it financially and emotionally after anesthesia school!

From what I understand, the biggest difference between the DNP and a Ph.D is about 4 years. My friend just finished her DNP and while she had to do a research project, it is not of the magnitude of a full dissertation. Our nursing instructors have gotten Ed.Ds so they can teach at the University level. Any of the doctoral degrees allow you to teach. That is why I am getting my informatics DNP. I want to work in the field but also want to be able to reach some if I want. I have a Masters in teaching but I did not want to get my masters in nursing education b/c I don't want to teach FT, but I like the option of being able to teach.

Well- first be a great CRNA- that means getting through your MSNA program (no easy task in itself) get out and practice and then decide what you want to do from there- that will drive what degree would be of greatest benefit for you.

I'm in a CRNA DNP program myself. There are only a couple years left for anesthesia programs to convert from masters to DNP/DNAP programs. Like others have mentioned the DNP is a clinical based doctorate designed to heighten your knowledge of a certain specialty. As a current student going through the DNP coursework, I have a few thoughts. I like that CRNA school incorporates the DNP right alongside your CRNA courses because it gives you more time and exposure to anesthesia. You get an extra 1 to 1.5 years of time in CRNA school to learn more material, do more clinical rotations, do research about anesthesia, become an APA paper writing demi-god, work on getting published, develop into a leader in your field, etc.

If you're going to have your degree as a clinical specialist highly trained in your field like a CRNA is, go for the DNP and build on that. My caveat to that is since your actual program is MSN and you'll be adding on DNP separate from your program after you graduate I don't know if the DNP will be as relatable to your specialty like my experience has been. Although, I would go out on a limb and say it has to be more relatable and relevant to you than a theory based PhD or education doctorate.

I would like to get that "terminal" degree, they said for clinical it's DNP.

Also love teaching but most state universities require PhD.

Still torn between DNP and PhD, my clock is ticking.

I did the DNP route vs PhD because of time & cost. I finished in 1 year with no regrets. I teach PT but was recently promoted in the management leadership role.

you can teach with a DNP. My friend has her DNP and teaches courses for an online BSN program. My advisor is a Ph.D, is a great teacher, but is sometimes unavailable as she is always in active research and giving presentations-she is a leader in her field. We have several professors that are really involved in research. We have many DNP professors too. Mostly I see a lot that have done BSN, MSN, then DNP which probably is the same amount of years in school as a 5 year Ph.D program.

Almost all the professors in my undergrad university were MSN or DNP. All the professors in my doctorate program at my current university are DNP, except for one PhD. I've never heard of any nursing/medical program not desiring a DNP for their institution.

The recognition of the dnp varies by institution. Both where i went to NP school and where I teach both seem to have good recognition of the DNP. However, my undergrad institution only allowed nontenure track opportunities be given to the DNP degree holders. I'm doing my DNP in hopes to obtain a tenured spot within my institution in the future. If you look at my previous threads, I contemplated going back for the EdD after the DNP just to learn more and gain more skills. The more I read on it, the more redundant that idea seems. Good luck!

The PhD is primarily a research degree with the goal of preparing nurse-scientists who can design and lead a research program. They are the most rigorous and, to some extent, the most widely respected. The culmination is a dissertation, essential a book detailing an extensive, multi-year research project. If your interests lie outside of conducting original research, then this is probably not the degree for you. BTW - while this is less common in nursing than other fields, there are still a number of fully-funded PhD programs that pay you to earn you degree.

EdD programs run the gamut, some are basically psuedo-PhDs, some are entirely practical focused on education, some are actually more focused on leadership and/or administration. This degree is the least standardized and varies greatly by individual program.

DNPs are the newest and ostensibly practice degrees although since they don't change the scope of practice for post-MSN students, they are limited in how much clinically-relevant content they include. An exception is the program at Columbia which is centered around a 1 year residency including case conferences and in-depth discussion of clinical applications of research. Most programs, however, are basically more detailed information about EBP and translating research (generally done by someone else) into practice improvement. They usually culminate with a capstone project of designing and implementing an EBP project and is exponentially less involved than a dissertation. There are also a number of DNAP programs which are specific to CNRA practice.

As for what one can do post-doctorate, there really is no standard track. People with each degree end up in teaching, practice, and administration. Research is mostly reserved for PhDs including post-doctoral fellowships and research-only academic appointments. Most faculty job postings are looking for individuals with "an earned doctorate" rather than any specific degree. The ideal for faculty to be scientist-practitioner-educator all in one is losing some ground to individuals that excel in two out of three. What do you during and outside of your doctoral program are likely to have much more influence on career direction than the letters behind your name.