Requirements for nursing faculty

[saheckler]

Hi everyone, does anyone know if a master's in nursing is required to be nursing faculty? I thought that if someone had a PhD in a related discipline that that would be sufficient, but I've read that some states require a master's in nursing, even if someone has a PhD in nursing or in a related discipline. I did some google searching but haven't found much. Any information or pointers on where to find this information would be much appreciated! Thank you!

[saheckler, PhD, RN]

As others have said, a lot depends on the particular school, the particular state, etc. But regardless what the "legal" or "required" minimums are ... not have a graduate degree in nursing would put you at a disadvantage for many positions. You might still meet the minimal requirements of some jobs with your highest nursing degree being at the BSN -- and "entry-level" degree and a PhD in something else. But you would be competing with nurses who had MSN's, DNP's, and/or PhD's in nursing. That would probably put you at a disadvantage in the job market for some jobs.

That is a really excellent point! Thank you! I'm struggling because my interests really lie within public health (and not at all within clinical nursing), and so a PhD in public health would maybe make a bit more sense than a PhD in nursing. However, I think there is much more demand for nursing faculty than public health faculty, so I was hoping if I go the public health route that I would still maybe be able to keep my options open and look for positions within nursing too.

[llg, PhD, RN]

It looks to me as if you are trying to have the best of both worlds -- and with a little luck, you may be able to do that. But at the graduate level, you need to choose your specialty. That's one of the things grad school is all about. You need to decide what your focus and specialty will be. You might get lucky and be able to maintain sufficient competence in 2 fields to have a back-up career path ... but you really can't count on being equally marketable in 2 fields. Most people have to make a choice as to where they want to invest their time and energy -- and then focus on being really great at that choice and get a good job doing that type of work. If you are not ready to make a decision, you might not be ready for graduate study.

[saheckler, PhD, RN]

It looks to me as if you are trying to have the best of both worlds -- and with a little luck, you may be able to do that. But at the graduate level, you need to choose your specialty. That's one of the things grad school is all about. You need to decide what your focus and specialty will be. You might get lucky and be able to maintain sufficient competence in 2 fields to have a back-up career path ... but you really can't count on being equally marketable in 2 fields. Most people have to make a choice as to where they want to invest their time and energy -- and then focus on being really great at that choice and get a good job doing that type of work. If you are not ready to make a decision, you might not be ready for graduate study.

I know that I want to study LGBTQ+ health disparities; my problem is there are opportunities to study this in nursing and in public health, so it's very hard to decide which one to choose! Maybe this is a good problem to have.

[llg, PhD, RN]

... but do you want to be an expert nurse? ... or an expert in public health? That's the question only you can decide. If you want to be an expert in both, you'll need to get graduate degrees in both. (MSN + PhD in Public Health?)

[saheckler, PhD, RN]

Hmm.. that's a good question. Most of the programs I've looked at are pretty interdisciplinary and there seems to be a lot of overlap and a lot of opportunity to take classes and work with faculty in both nursing and public health, which is wonderful, but it makes it difficult to choose since the line is blurry! Of course if I were studying something more clinical, the choice would be clear, but since I'm studying health disparities my research topic fits well in either discipline. I'm doing research with a faculty member and she has a PhD in psychology and is a faculty member at our school of public health, but her research center is housed under the school of nursing. Some of her colleagues are in the same boat. I'm not sure if this is typical elsewhere, especially for nursing faculty whose background or research focus is in public health nursing. I love the interdisciplinary environment, but it's challenging to differentiate which career path would be best!