Teaching with a DNP Degree

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Hello all,

I am currently perusing a BSN in Nursing but my end goal is to become an NP and a teacher at a university. I was just wondering what would be the best route to take to achieve my goals? Any advice would be great 😊

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Hello,

Are you already a nurse? If not, then a few years of practice would be beneficial to help develop practice interests and guide you towards an advanced practice specialty. Some years of practice and developing clinical expertise will also serve you well in formulating a doctoral project and leading students.

Do you enjoy inpatient or outpatient medicine? Is there a particular patient population which interests you? The DNP is well suited for clinical expertise as a practice doctorate. However, I believe that the PhD is still widely regarded as the degree of choice for an academic career and you may find some limitations with obtaining tenure at research intensive schools. So you should also ask yourself where you intend to teach (ie. community college vs small state/private university vs research heavy university). Also explore what your teaching interests will be (ie. BSN students, MSN students, NP program, etc).

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Thank you for your response! No, I am not a nurse as of yet. I am perusing my BSN at the moment. I would like to work in a clinical setting once I have obtained my FNP. I would like to start of teaching at a community college just to develop a feel for the profession. Thank

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Thank you for the information on the phD vs. DNP. I had not thought about the obstacles that could occur when reaching that level of education and then trying to obtain a career afterwards. I will take your advice about working a few years in the nursing field before deciding on what area of expertise I would want to go into for sure as an NP. Thank you again for your response! í ½í¸Š

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Thank you for the information on the phD vs. DNP. I had not thought about the obstacles that could occur when reaching that level of education and then trying to obtain a career afterwards. I will take your advice about working a few years in the nursing field before deciding on what area of expertise I would want to go into for sure as an NP. Thank you again for your response! 😊

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