NP\ Nursing Educator career

[tidealum10]

Not sure if this question has been asked on this website, but I wanted to know if it is possible to be a Nurse Practitioner and some type of Nurse Educator (i.e. Clinical Professor) or is this just a impossible thing to do

[tidealum10]

Can a APN with a DNP teach?

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

Can a APN with a DNP teach?

"teach" is a broad concept in nursing...are you asking about teaching in a nursing program and in which capacity (i.e., tenure track vs clinical track)?

[tidealum10]

I wanted to know if a APN could teach from a clinical standpoint with a DNP. Sorry for not making it clear.

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

I wanted to know if a APN could teach from a clinical standpoint with a DNP. Sorry for not making it clear.

They certainly can with either MSN or DNP. Clinical instructors in undergrad programs do not necessarily have to be APN's but any Clinical Faculty at an APN program are required to have practiced the specific APN specialty the program is training for.

[elkpark]

APNs (of any specialty) can certainly teach -- they can, now, with an MSN, so no problem with a DNP.

However, when considering the DNP vs. the PhD, be aware that some universities will not consider the DNP (or other clinical/practice doctorates) for tenure. In the last university nursing program in which I taught (a run-of-the-mill state uni program, nothing particularly special), in the pre-licensure BSN program as an MSN-prepared advanced practice nurse (there were plenty of MSN-prepared faculty in the undergrad program, and all doctorally-prepared faculty in the graduate program), the university had already announced, in 2007, that a DNP would not be considered suitable/adequate for tenure-track positions, and people holding the DNP would be accorded the same "second-class citizen" status that we MSN-prepared faculty held.

That may well vary from school to school, of course -- but I'm thinking that, if this school is taking that position, a lot of other schools will be, also.

[linearthinker, DNP, RN]

I think in the future schools would want NP instructors to be DNP prepared. It only makes sense.

[tidealum10]

So which doctorate would you guys recommend for clinical instruction?

[psychonaut]

Several professors I work with have gotten their MSN/NP, taught clinical courses until an opening came up for a lecturer position, and got the PhD on-line while teaching and working in clinical practice a minimum amount of hours each week.

I could get a nursing ed post-masters in 3 semesters after completing my FNP (and have been encouraged to do so, but blech). This seems to be fairly common (mine is a public, state university), but I don't know exactly how it works everywhere.

[Le-Lee_FNP, MSN, RN, NP]

so is everyone saying that a MSN in nursing education is kind of pointless? I know nurse educators in hospitals that don't even have MSNs. From what i see those roles are more based on your experience in the area (years of critical care experience for ICU educator, etc.). And if you can teach in an undergrad program with any MSN, why not just go for the advanced practice role and skip the whole nurse educator part? As far as doctoral preparation, my FNP program has MSN, Phd and DNP prepared instructors. So graduate programs probably each have their own preferences.

[Christen, ANP]

MSN educators have their place in the world, but (at least at my program) the entire first year or so all the MSN candidates take the same classes. We broke off into our individual specialties (Educator, CNS, NP) for our second year of school. While the educators are better at...educating people, pretty much anyone with an MSN has the same foundation as they do. Nurses who have no desire to ever be a healthcare provider may not want to go the NP route and are happy with the MSN they recieve. Different people in different job markets look for different things, ya know?