chicoborja

Thanks for your reply but that's the thing too, I havent had undergrad patho. I have taken other useful courses: A&P, Microbiology, Chem, Pharmacology, and Organismal Biology as an undergrad. I have also taken some Neuroscience and Genetics as a grad student but never a patho course.

Hi, I'm a Ph.D. student but not in nursing nor am I an RN. I think there are different perspectives, with regard to PhD education, in all allied health/nursing professions where the masters in the entry level (e.g., advanced practice nursing, OT, SLP, etc.) degree for the field. For example, as a previous poster mentioned, delaying the PhD until clinical experience is acquired may offer significant benefits in terms of integrating experience into the equation; however, it may be easier for some students who have remained in student mode to continue on. Additionally, acquiring a PhD at an earlier point in one's career may allow one to advance in their career sooner than would be the case with just the masters. I believe it is a matter of preference to be determined on an individual basis and also that there is a great deal of variability from person to person. Those are just my two cents.

Hi everybody. Next semester I plan on enrolling in the advanced patho class in the nursing department. The course is required for masters students attempting to become NPs or CNSs. I am not a nursing major but rather am a PhD student in a non-nursing allied health field. I had briefly looked through the texts required by the instructor (Robbin's Basic Pathology and Pathophysiology: Biologic Bases of Disease by McCance) and was intimidated by the texts themselves. Is this course typically the hardest in the graduate nursing programs? Is it likely that the instructor will not require us to go into as much depth as the text goes? Any suggestions for me? Thanks.

ASL is also more prevalent in areas that have large Deaf communities (e.g., Washington, D.C., New York, and California). Many school systems teach SEE (SEE2) which is a manual version of English. Although ASL and SEE may share many signs, the syntax for ASL is markedly different from that of SEE/English. Additionally, you may have helped a Deaf/deaf person and not have realized it. Some hearing impaired persons that were raised in residential/private schools may have adequate or even near-normal speech and bypass the use of manual communication with the hearing population to avoid social/pragmatic difficulties.

You might be better off checking into Anesthesia Assistant or Physician Assistant programs. They are more geared towards biology majors. Anestheisa Assistants are essentially the same as Nurse Anesthetists except they are only licensed to practice in several states and are dependent providers of anesthesia.

LOL, I don't know how anybody could frown upon a PhD in biomedical engineering. If anything, they might only be hesitant about accepting you becuz they might be afraid u may upstage the professors on a variety of issues. If they don't accept you, it would only prove that they are more self-serving and fear driven than wanting what is best for the nursing profession and its associated public image. Nursing needs more researchers/professionals with firm grounding in the sciences whether it be the basic sciences or behavioral sciences. I have my reservations about "nursing science".

I am posting in hopes of soliciting some feedback from clinical nurse practioners and if possible any nurse practiioners with PhDs. I am currently a second year grad student in an unrelated program. Beginning in the Fall I plan in enrolling in the minimum grad hrs to be considered a full-time student (9 hrs) while simultaneously pursuing an ADN at my local community college (10 hrs/semester). My plan is to graduate with ADN in Spring '08 to get licensed as an RN and the following year (Spring '09) to graduate with a PhD in Speech and Hearing Science. My goal is to pursue an MSN Nurse Practioner program following completion of the PhD. Now that you have some background, I would like to ask two questions (1) Am I getting in way over my head with doing 9 grad hrs (PhD) and 10 undergrad hrs (nursing) simultaneously? Additonal notes include: I have a 5 year old daughter that spends three nights a week with me, need to work part-time while in school, and ADN program is 30 minutes away. The ADN program requires me to be there 4 days per week mainly just from early morning until early/mid-afternoon. I am a procrastinator but also one of the top students in my dept's program. Additonally, I have worked as a pharmacy technician for the past 4½ years (also took course in pharm nursing dept at university doin PhD at) so pharmacology is not a problem for me. I dont have a problem writing papers but would likely be annoyed by nursing theory/diag/care plans. (2) My goal is to be a nurse practioner in ENT but cannot in ENT then in neuro or neurosurg. I would like to collaborate with physicians to do clinical research in field. My question is : is it unlikely that a physician would want to do research when not associated with a med school and with not being compensated for it? If they did not want to do research, how likely is it that they would tolerate me doin it within their clinic assuming it did not take up significant time from my work? Lastly, do university nursing programs frown upon NPs having PhDs in non-nursing areas as opposed to nursing? Sorry my post is so long and thanks in advance for your responses Mark

thank u for your reply siri

I am posting in hopes of soliciting some feedback from clinical nurse practioners and if possible any nurse practiioners with PhDs. I am currently a second year grad student in an unrelated program. Beginning in the Fall I plan in enrolling in the minimum grad hrs to be considered a full-time student (9 hrs) while simultaneously pursuing an ADN at my local community college (10 hrs/semester). My plan is to graduate with ADN in Spring '08 to get licensed as an RN and the following year (Spring '09) to graduate with a PhD in Speech and Hearing Science. My goal is to pursue an MSN Nurse Practioner program following completion of the PhD. Now that you have some background, I would like to ask two questions (1) Am I getting in way over my head with doing 9 grad hrs (PhD) and 10 undergrad hrs (nursing) simultaneously? Additonal notes include: I have a 5 year old daughter that spends three nights a week with me, need to work part-time while in school, and ADN program is 30 minutes away. The ADN program requires me to be there 4 days per week mainly just from early morning until early/mid-afternoon. I am a procrastinator but also one of the top students in my dept's program. Additonally, I have worked as a pharmacy technician for the past 4½ years (also took course in pharm nursing dept at university doin PhD at) so pharmacology is not a problem for me. I dont have a problem writing papers but would likely be annoyed by nursing theory/diag/care plans. (2) My goal is to be a nurse practioner in ENT but cannot in ENT then in neuro or neurosurg. I would like to collaborate with physicians to do clinical research in field. My question is : is it unlikely that a physician would want to do research when not associated with a med school and with not being compensated for it? If they did not want to do research, how likely is it that they would tolerate me doin it within their clinic assuming it did not take up significant time from my work? Lastly, do university nursing programs frown upon NPs having PhDs in non-nursing areas as opposed to nursing? Sorry my post is so long and thanks in advance for your responses Mark

Do/can CRNAs do evoked potential monitoring? I was told they do EEG monitoring (at least MDAs do) but that SSEP, VEP, and AEP makes it to difficult because it detracts from the ability to monitor anesthesia. I know in the past evoked potential research was done by MDAs but now is done more by neuro. If I choose to pursue CRNA, I really would be interested in doing evoked potential research during spinal and neurosurg cases. Any thoughts about the feasibility of this?

The faculty are needed before it produces DrNP graduates! I don't see how this helps the faculty shortage! I'm not sure about nursing but in many other fields tenure for faculty members (associate professor rank) requires an academic doctorate (e.g., PhD, EdD, ScD). The DrNP does not qualify as such. This would be not unlike hiring a MSNA (nothing wrong with that) as a faculty member. I dont see the justification for this claim. agreed but these faculty members would not be doctorate prepared faculty in the research sense. they do not hold PhDs and would not significantly differ from MSNAs nor would they be likely to frequently publish in peer-reviewed journals as prinicpal investigators Many might consider Nurse Anesthesia more medicine than nursing. There are those who go into nursing with that sole goal in mind because they are interested in medicine and not nursing. Nurses and other allied health professionals are all important members of healthcare; however, physicans are and will remain the most completely and thoroughly trained healthcare members for the foreseeable future. This isnt meant to undermine the services provide by or education provided to nurses but rather to keep things in perspective.

I don't mean to offend anyone but some of the responses I've read have somewhat irritated me. I do agree that PAs and NPs are relatively equal. Neither mid-level is inherently superior. When comparing the two, it really comes down to the individual clinician. The statement that being a PA is a dead-end job is ignorant. PAs are nearly identical to APNs. Although they are different in training, many positions may be filled by either. PAs may advance into faculty positions the same way APNs can. Although there are fewer administative positions available to PAs, there is still plenty of room for advancement. It is unrealistic to believe that NPs frequently engage in autonomous practice (CRNAs and CNMs excluded). Less than a handful of states allow for autonomous practice and they all have restricted formularies where complete autonomy is available. Most states require collaborative practice with a physician but this isnt dramatically different from being supervised. I will concede that NPs have a far more viable chance of establishing an independent practice; however, until legislation changes further (as a whole) it isn't going to thrive. PAs and NPs each have theri advantages and disadvantages. PAs may change specialty at a whim; whereas, NPs require further coursework (e.g., peds to psych). PAs may suture minor wounds but NPs do have less physician supervision. With regard to PAs giving orders to an RN, PAs are a rung above RNs in the healthcare hierarchy. MDs and DOs are at the top with limited license practitioners below (e.g., OD, DPM) and mid-levels (NPs, PAs) right below them. Then of course is RN with LPN right below RN and CMAs and CNAs below LPN. I'm not saying that someone's better because they are at a higher tier in the hierarchy, but rather they have more authority and responsibilty. Keep in mind that each rung tends to require more time in didactic eduaction. Physicans have 4 year clinical doctorates with about 3-5 years in residency. Limited license practitoners have 4 year doctorates with maybe a 0 to 2 year residency. NPs and PAs often have master's degrees. RNs have a bachelor's or associates. LPNs have a diploma and CMAs/CNAs have certificates. Alright, I'll shut up now.

One problem that just came to mind relates to those colleges that belong to universities that are not doctoral-granting institutions. Many smaller colleges/universities award the master's as their highest degree available. I wonder if this transition will force smaller programs to either close or collaborate with neighboring institutions to offer the degree jointly. With the nursing shortage, closing programs would not be wise. However, isn't the shortage of nurses exclusive to RN, LPN/LVN, and CNA. There isn't a shortage of NP and CNS, is there? How bout CRNA? In any case, I bet the MDAs will through a big fit about CRNAs being DNPs! :chuckle

The practical value is primarily political. Having a doctorate as the entry-level for a particular profession, in this case advanced practice nursing, sets a profession up to move towards autonomy. I would say that the quest for autonomy and all the things that go with it (e.g., direct access, private practice, independence from physicians) is the primary reason that the all of the recent transitions to entry-level doctoral degrees have occurred. Saying that your given profession is required to complete a doctorate with a one year residency is far more impressive than saying your field requires a two-year masters with no residency when convincing politicians and insurance companies to support changes in legislature governing your scope of practice and increases in reimbursement, respectively. I do not believe the MSN will ever become the entry level for nursing. I do believe in the future the BSN will completely replace the ADN for entry level as an RN. I also believe the DNP will replace the MSN as the entry-level degree for advanced practice nursing. The MSN will likely remain for those wanting to earn a degree in administration or as a stepping stone to the PhD. Thats just my two cents

Are you taking ASL (American Sign Language) or SEE (Signing Exact English)? ASL is more common with the Deaf community whereas SEE and PSE (Pidgin Signed English) are more common in the schools. I hope that you are aware that taking one class in sign does not make one fluent, just as one course in Spanish or French does not make one fluent. I agree that Spanish would probably be the most useful; however, I imagine you should have easy access to interpreters at a hospital. The most useful language to learn will vary depending on the region you live in. Florida, Cali, and NM would prob have a high % of Spanish speakers whereas certain areas of the country have a high % of Asian language speakers (e.g., Vietnamese). In areas around some of the deaf schools and universites (e.g., Gallaudet) ASL might be the best choice. Best of luck to you but I think if you take up a language it should be for your own desire to learn rather than to add a potential asset to your employer.