muffin741

Kristie, Thank you so much for bringing this up. It is so worth thinking about no matter what the poster intended, and thinking about how I really feel about patients whose values are in strident conflict with mine and can be a bit unkind or nasty or even abusive towards me. I appreciate your points. You've opened my eyes this Monday morning. Don't give up your candid ways, and don't feel you are alone in this. This is important.

Congratulations! You are so courageous! It will serve you well.

Dear Lindsay. I LOVE students (and I know there are plenty more like me), and I'm so sorry about the rude nurse. I would stop every time she interrupts, wait until she stops talking, stay silent until she indicates you continue. If you stop every time and not speak, until she comments that you should start talking again, (and then smile when she gives you the go ahead) it will extinguish her behavior very quickly like she is a bad dog. I will tell you from experience she has terrible self esteem, does not like herself and is probably quite miserable. As bad as she treats you she treat her husband and her children worse. Someone has reinforced this behavior in her in some way. Do not do anything to make it worthwhile to her to continue doing it to others. Others have said, she is a bullly and in soem way this behavior has paid off for her. There was a a barista at the coffee shop in my town. She made a latte for the woman standing in front of me in line. The woman lashed out at her with excoriating contempt, and told her she had made the wrong drink. The young woman offered to fix it, offered to make a free latte, etc. The woman was so mean; she walked out muttering about the incompetent service. I came up in line to the young woman. She was in tears. I leaned over the counter and said "You are very lucky." And she looked at me like was was the village idiot. "WHY?" I leaned over the counter, and said "You are not her, and you will never be." She smiled through her tears and said thank you. Remember why you went into nursing. You will be a great nurse and a great preceptor, and maybe someday, a great mom, and what you learned from your encounters with this woman, will help you in all of those. There are so many of us sending you hugs and support. Hang in there and let us know how it goes.

Hi Fay, Not sure about the RN to BSN program...the Masters program is not that competitive. I think there were 80 applications for 60 spots when I applied. UMass is a very good deal financially-good luck this fall! Muffin741

Hi Jenn42H, I never got your email. I double checked my email account and it works. I sifted through my spam (ewww), and you weren't there either. Can you resend? Would love to hear from you. I'm taking only one course this summer and it's not terribly time consuming, which has been GREAT. I've finished the first year, and start clinicals in September. I'll know more about the Capstone requirements then and can give you some details. Let me know where you are in the process. Are you applying, thinking about it or trying to decide among schools? If you want to talk about the NP programs I have wonderful friends doing those and can connect you with them once we make contact. M741

Hi Jenn, I finished my first year at UMass Boston. I'm in the CNS acute/critical care track, but the first year the NP and CNS are basically all together in the 3P's. I'm very happy with the program, and it's much cheaper than Amherst or Worcester. I'm impressed with the achievements of the faculty. Some are better teachers than others, but that goes around everywhere. If you want to contact me offline, I'm happy to chat. sparklecookie(at)gmail(dot)com and I will give you my phone ##. Good luck!

this is what the aacn has to say about tenure and the dnp: though primarily an institutional decision, the aacn is confident that a dnp faculty member will compete favorably with other practice doctorates in tenure and promotion decisions... hmmm... they may be confident, but it is certainly not a sure thing in many institutions. again, concerning the original focus of this blog, what do you think? should dnp faculty be allowed tenure and placed on equal footing with their phd-prepared counterparts? why or why not? does your nursing institution grant dnp faculty tenure? i welcome your input :) okay, regarding tenure. it is my understanding that tenure is based on merit, not just degree. if a dnp has completed scholarly/clinical work contributing to the art and science of nursing, has shown initiative and genuine commitment to teaching, and has fulfilled all the requisites for tenure at the institution at which he or she is employed, then that person should be considered for tenure. a faculty dnp who promotes scholarship and engages students, demands and produces excellence, and generates new knowledge in his/her area of expertise is going to be a far better tenured professor than a phd that cannot engage students, successfully manage grant monies or produce research that is relevant to nursing practice or pedagogy. so what i'm saying, it's not the degree that counts so much as the person with the degree, after the institution requirements are met. we desperately need passionate, expert clinicians in nursing education, not just expert researchers. nursing is not unique. do only phds teach at medical school and receive tenure there? no of course not. md's teach at medical school and also receive tenure. i can say the same for dental school, pharmacy school, and others. in nursing, the rubber hits the road at the point of care (to paraphrase gladys campbell). to our patients, nothing else matters. it we cannot teach by our experience and expertise in that space, where nurse meets patient, if we cannot change and improve what happens there, then all the most elegant exquisite, and precise research is useless to us. i am saying we need both. we need the expert nurses who produce the new scientific knowledge, and we need the expert clinicians that can translate it into outcomes at the bedside and prove that it works and tell us about it in literature, and our nursing students deserve nothing less than a limpid understanding of what each advanced degree offers, and how they can work together synergistically to ultimately improve health care, outcomes and people's lives.. it's not the letters behind your name that counts, as much as what you do with them. there's a place for both phd and dnp in academia. just my two cents. disclosure-i am a masters student simultaneously completing coursework for the dnp (clinical nurse specialist). thanks everyone.