Does anyone know the differences among the 3 doctoral-level nursing degrees?

Nurses General Nursing

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What distinguishes the Ph.D, the ND, and the DNSc from one another? What does each prepare someone for? Similar number of credit hours required? Similar types of courses? Dissertation required? There's a list of all the schools that offer these programs at http://www.allnursingschools.com

At least 2 of the schools allow non-nurses to apply to their ND programs. So there you go, another point of entry to the nursing profession. But I don't want to talk about that right now, I only want to know what the Ph.D/ND/DNSc are all about. According to the brief descriptions of the various schools' doctorate programs on the website, they all sound pretty much alike. Thanks to anyone who has infomation.

This article http://www.studyoverseas.com/alliedhealthcare/articles/nurse1.htm

specifically states that the ND is for non-nurses. Still doesn't answer my question though! :)

That is a very good question. I have only known doctorally prepared nurses who were Ph.Ds

Hi,

The PhD is a research based doctorate, the DNSc is a clinical doctorate. The ND (which I am in my second year) is for people who have undergraduate degrees in non-nursing fields. For example, I have a degree in biology, I will receive a post-baccalaureate BSN in two years, a MSN in one more year, and my ND in the fourth year. All of these programs are doctorates but the focus is different for each. The only real advantage to these degrees, beyond the MSN, is in academia. Hope this helps.

You left out EdD.

From what I can tell, which is similar to another post, Ph.D, DNS, Ed.D are all similar in work, focus though - expertise in research, clinical practice and education.

Since I'm already RN, I haven't figured out any others. Some "advanced degress for non-nurses" turn out to be programs designed for other purposes, e.g. clinical psychologist who want prescriptive authority (here's an NP program just for you). My concern is with programs that use nursing programs for other goals than becoming nurses.

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