Ph.D. in Nursing

FA to CRNA2b · Jul 19, 2008

Which program gives you an RN after one year? Please tell...

closetnerd · Jul 19, 2008

Univ. Texas Austin. You can practice only in Texas though until you finish your Ph.D.

RN1982 · Jul 19, 2008

huh? So you are saying that after a year in the program, you can take the Nclex to get your nursing license?

Ok. You do realize though you have to go to school all year?

iteachob, MSN, RN · Jul 19, 2008

One of the contributing reasons for the nursing shortage is a lack of qualified educators. Therefore, as you can imagine, the job prospects are quite good. In fact, where I work, we recently increased our enrollment and are looking for 2 full-time faculty positions. We've been looking for nearly a year!.....well, we are not exactly in a metro area (eastern KY), but, there are schools all over the place looking for qualified faculty.

One thing I should mention: while the job prospects are good, the salary (generally) isn't stellar. It's acceptable, but you won't get rich doing it! One outstanding thing about academia is the amount of time off (a month at Christmas, 3 months in the summer) to do other things, whatever that might be.

closetnerd · Jul 19, 2008

Thanks for the info on teaching. Which degree should I go for? MSN or Ph.D?

llg, PhD, RN · Jul 19, 2008

If you want an academic job, you would be in better position to have a PhD so that you would be eligible for promotion to the higher rungs on the academic career ladder. However, there is a critical shortage of lower level clinical instructors -- and those positions usually only require an MSN.

But ... you should really investigate the academic life before making such a big committment. The "holidays and summers off" lifestyle is only true of faculty members who are not on the tenure track and/or seeking career advancement. Full time faculty members are expected to do more than just teach classes when school is in session. They are expected to perform all sorts of other services for the school -- and also conduct research, publish, etc. Much of that work happens over the summer, spring break, etc.

Also, to get the "good" faculty jobs, you should have some solid nursing experience and a track record of nursing achievement. Don't forget to include time for that in your career plan. It's rare that someone goes directly from being a student to being a faculty member.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jul 19, 2008

My understanding is that NLN approved BSN programs require a certain number of PhD instructors and there is a great need.

Listen though to llg above, she knows about this stuff.

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · Jul 19, 2008

In looking at the program, you have to take 9 courses (27 credit hrs) prior to admission, then you have 4 years of ed after that, not counting your dissertation years. You're looking at 5 years, plus dissertation (which can take anywhere from 2-3 years avg to complete) for this. By looking at the degree plan, this program skips many of the Masters level research and statistics courses that most programs have. Are you 100% sure you want to devote 7-8 years to this without having been immersed in the field?

Have you considered doing an accelerated BSN program first, to see if nursing is for you? 7-8 years of study is quite a commitment to make, if you're not already a nurse, and you have no way of knowing whether you can commit to the profession. If you do decide that you don't want to complete the program, do you want to be stuck in the immediate area for employment?

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · Jul 19, 2008

I also noticed that they only have 9 full professors to 52 PhD students. You may have a problem with this, because those professors are going to be divided among those PhD students for advisement and guidance. This will be especially important during your dissertation years, and when doing your research projects or assistantships/fellowships. I would definitely ask some current doctoral students there how well they feel they are being supported by their advisors. Your best bet all around may be to ask to speak with some of their current PhD students about their experiences in the program. Most institutions welcome this. If they fail to give you some contacts, run.

ck2007 · Jul 19, 2008

It seems to me, if you're going to be a nurse educator and you haven't been a nurse, you're only going to be teaching theory. I don't think you could be an effective teacher without having the "critical thinking skills" needed to actually be a nurse and to teach these skills to potential nurses. Don't get me wrong, I don't think you have a bad plan, but I think you should consider actually becoming a nurse before accelerating into a teaching position.

Music in My Heart · Jul 19, 2008

One of the contributing reasons for the nursing shortage is a lack of qualified educators. Therefore, as you can imagine, the job prospects are quite good. In fact, where I work, we recently increased our enrollment and are looking for 2 full-time faculty positions. We've been looking for nearly a year!.....well, we are not exactly in a metro area (eastern KY), but, there are schools all over the place looking for qualified faculty.
One thing I should mention: while the job prospects are good, the salary (generally) isn't stellar. It's acceptable, but you won't get rich doing it! One outstanding thing about academia is the amount of time off (a month at Christmas, 3 months in the summer) to do other things, whatever that might be.

I'm curious... are you looking for tenure-track faculty or is the difficulty in in finding clinical instructors (not to mention clinical sites).