gordonlynnbrown

I am the spouse of a nurse who is working to complete her DNP at the University of San Diego. Where she is just finishing up her degree. . . hopefully. We are in the process of job hunting. My wife is an extraordinary instructor and teaches at a local community college. She is rather idealistic and wanted to obtain the DNP designation from the perspective of improving her clinical skills and salary position. At every turn her instructors desired to pigeon hole her into a PhD mode. Even her project (dissertation, if you will) requires all the rigors of a research based degree. The Dean of the program even made the comment to her, and others present, that she was sick and tired of students vying for the DNP because they did not want to take statistics. Other comments have tended to indicate that there is a strong bias towards the PhD venue and that DNPs do not, and will not, have the same level of respect. This is most unfortunate. Most of her PhD instructors have PhDs with only a few years, at most, actual clinical experience. As an outsider, it is my opinion that academia is vastly out of touch with the requirements of the real world. From snippets of information I have read I get the impression that the AACN is aware that there are problems and the DNP is not being executed as they envisioned. Change is slow and attitudes are difficult to alter. Bottom line: Do not vie for the DNP designation! It will not significantly enhance your knowledge base (as those teaching the courses do not have the information to impart, and will therefore teach you and set up requirements based on their realm of experience . . . research), and it will not enhance your marketability so as to assist you in obtaining better compensation.