Nurse Doctorate degree

P_RN, ADN, RN · May 6, 2003

I'm confused. Nurse doctorates come after Master's and Bachelor's degrees. Where is this nurse doctorate school?

Gampopa · May 6, 2003

University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. It's a program for people who already have a bachelor's in Arts in another field and want to go into nursing.

purplemania, BSN, RN · May 6, 2003

ask for references: grads you can contact

P_RN, ADN, RN · May 6, 2003

OK now I see. I was thinking of one of those Caribbean medical schools that advertise when you graduate you can work as a doctor OR a nurse. Sorry for my confusion. What's your BA in?

Gampopa · May 6, 2003

BA in Biology. Currently I'm taking the pre-reqs. Anat., Micro. will take stats. & phys. this summer.

llg, PhD, RN · May 6, 2003

I got my PhD at UCHSC and knew many people in the ND program there back in the early to mid 1990's. Obviously, you are going to have to talk with some graduates to learn how their careers panned out ... but I can tell you that when I was there, it was an excellent program. I would hire one of their graduates in a minute.

The ND degree qualifies you for many advanced practice jobs and I would recommend it (or a 3-year generic master's program) to anyone who already has a Bachelor's Degree in another field. It's so much more efficient and cost effective to get your basic nursing at the graduate level to begin with. I have run into people who, in that situation, start with a ADN ... then they have to go back to school again for a BSN if they want a promotion ... then they have to go back to school AGAIN if they want an advanced practice position! All that repeated going back to school drains their finances and wears them down. Paying the extra and starting with either a 3-year generic Master's Degree or with an ND is cheaper in the long run and it gets you where you probably want to be sooner. Also, because your original nursing courses are all on either an upper division and/or graduate level, the intellectual level and quality tends to be high.

Good luck,

llg

Trauma Columnist · May 6, 2003

I would advise going straight to doctorate too. I was an LPN, did the ADN bridge thing, now am back in school for a combo BSN/MSN. Should have been smarter when I was younger - duh!

healingtouchRN · May 7, 2003

More power to ya honey! :chuckle

Allison S. · May 7, 2003

I would not recomend a program like this. I started with two Bachelors degrees (one art one science), and professional experience in medical research and writing, and entered a direct entry MS-NP program.

I quit after the RN portion because I did not think I was getting a great education. Also, I was not hearing much support for this type of education from people working n the field. Most preferred that you spent time getting experience in the field before going on to advanced degrees.

This month, the program will graduate about a third of the students who originally enrolled with me. Voting with their feet, I guess.

Good luck, whatever you decide.

llg, PhD, RN · May 7, 2003

Originally posted by Allison S.
Also, I was not hearing much support for this type of education from people working n the field. Most preferred that you spent time getting experience in the field before going on to advanced degrees.

UCHSC's ND program used to include many, many more clinical hours than a typical program: I assume it still does. Also, I would consider the 4th year residency part of the program to be an even better quality learning experience than typically occurs in the first year of work experience post undergraduate school. You have to look at the structure and components of the individual program to make a judgment about it.

Also, graduates of ND and generic MSN programs need to do a lot of education of prospective employers as they job hunt. A lot of people might make wrong assumptions about the qualifications and experiences of these simply because they don't have the information they need to make a fair judgment.

Finally, many of the graduates of these programs choose (wisely, I think) to spend their first year of two after graduation in an entry level "staff nurse" type position in order to get that xperience Allison S. is referring to. After a year or two, they have sufficiently established their nursing practice and are ready to move on to an advanced practice position. Even with that year of entry-level work, it is a faster and cheaper route to more advanced positions than starting with the minimal degree and then repeatedly going back to school to get the higher ones.

To close, I must admit that I prefer the generic MSN (with a year or two of entry-level practice post graduation) idea to that of an ND -- but that's only because I think we have too many degree titles floating around. It's too confusing for people and I would like to see some standardization centered around the basic degrees typically offered by other disciplines. However, the quality of most of the ND programs around the country seems to be pretty high. For the most part, they have excellent reputations.

llg

Gampopa · May 7, 2003

Thanks for all your comments. The UCHSC ND program includes 300 hrs. pre and 300 hrs post NCLEX clinical practice. (The pre NCLEX hrs. are supervised). I regard the clinical experience as critical to my training and expect to spend (at least) a couple of years of practice as a staff nurse gaining experience and confidence. I also want the advanced degree but don't want to be continually going to school; so the ND seems like the best option. I still have some research to do about the program mostly contacting grads. and asking the pertinent questions.