NP first or straight to PhD and thoughts on dual NP/PhD programs

[mecha-sorah]

I wanted to know people's thoughts on a dual NP/PhD program. I aspire to pursue a PhD in the near future focusing on mental health and cardiovascular disease. I currently have one year of med-surg experience as a nurse and i am age 25. I also started volunteering as a nurse in an outpatient non-profit clinic working with low-income populations recently. I am torn between which direction to take. I was recommend by someone to get an AGPCNP so that I can work more with this population and really see the problems that need to be resolved so that I can conduct better research and have enough clinical experience to draw from. Someone else also told me to go straight to PhD. I am concerned about how a lack of clinical experience in what I want to research on will effect me in the future but would also like to get my PhD as soon as possible (I know it will take a while) so that I can launch my research career. I was also considering a dual NP/PHD program that university of rochester, upenn, yale to name a few have. But, Im not sure how people in these dual programs use their NP degree while in the PhD program?

[saheckler, PhD, RN]

I would recommend meeting with nurse researchers who are doing similar research and have similar roles to what you want yourself and ask them how you can best get the skills, knowledge, and experience necessary. I think it's a great idea to have clinical nursing experience before getting a nursing PhD, but that doesn't have to mean experience as an NP. Working as an NP would certainly give you expertise that would be helpful in your research, but if the only reason you want to get an NP degree is for your research, there are probably more efficient and less expensive ways to gain the insight you need about your chosen patient population. If you want to give patient care as an NP regardless of the helpfulness to your research, that's a different story. Hope this helps!