Introduction
It is hard to disagree that education and specific degrees are important for every nurse. Depending on a nurse’s career plans and desired job potential, it is possible to consider several options. For example, those nurses who have received a Master’s degree and desire to go further and take the next step usually choose between PhD and DNP. Although both degrees are valuable and some nurses do not see the distinction between them, PhD and DNP have specific differences based on educational requirements, career paths, and further opportunities.
Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing vs. Doctor of Nursing Practice
To begin with, these abbreviations stand for the Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD) and the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP). Among many different aspects of these two degrees, there is a primary one. According to the information provided by the Duke University School of Nursing (n.d.), “the DNP degree is a practice doctorate,” while “the PhD is a research doctorate” (para. 1). Therefore, this is the key factor that allows distinguishing between these programs.
It is also essential to discuss the educational requirements for PhD and DNP. Overall, either a Bachelor’s degree in nursing or a Master’s degree is required to apply for the Doctor of Philosophy. However, few schools provide low-income students with RN licenses the opportunity to earn their DNP without receiving a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree. As for the educational requirements for a PhD, to be eligible for it, “candidates must hold a Master’s degree in Nursing or any other equivalent discipline with an aggregate of at least 55% from a recognized university” (Banerjee, 2021, para. 2). Finally, Graduate Record Examinations scores, letters of recommendation, college transcripts, and an RN license are also required by most educational facilities for both PhD and DNP.
It is possible to say that these degrees provide nurses with different and sometimes unequal future opportunities. Therefore, those nurses who have yet to choose between these degrees need to focus both on their interests and expectations for their future profession and on the career choice and salary options for each profession offered by these two degrees (Cowan et al., 2018). Otherwise, there is a high probability that some nurses will become disappointed either in their earnings or their chosen profession, which will not satisfy their true interests.
Overall, DNP-prepared nurses have more options and promising opportunities. This degree is for nurses “who want to advance their expertise and gain knowledge in leadership, health policy, quality improvement and other areas” (Neal-Boylan, 2020, p. 6). They can become family, adult-gerontology, pediatric, psychiatric mental health, and other nurse practitioners or enter the fields of public health, nursing administration, or executive leadership (Terhaar et al., 2016). Although this is a practice doctorate, nurses with a DNP degree also can focus on clinical research because their advanced nursing roles include this skill (Terhaar et al., 2016). Finally, DNP-prepared nurses earn significantly more and have a more varied choice of specializations than nurses with a PhD degree.
At the same time, the roles of PhD-prepared nurses are rather different. As noticed by Neal-Boylan (2020), nurses who receive a PhD are expected to conduct and critique research, “disseminate their work via peer-reviewed publications and presentations,” and obtain grant funding, which is a part of their salary (p. 5). Even though PhD-prepared nurses can work in hospitals and health care agencies, their responsibilities are almost the same as in an academic setting (Cowan et al., 2018). Nurses with a PhD degree can find employment as research scientists at a university, research facility, medical laboratory, and hospital. They can also work as department chairs or faculty members at a nursing school.
The information mentioned above was rather interesting to me as some of my initial thoughts about these two degrees appeared wrong. For example, although it seems logical that DNP-prepared nurses generally make more money, I thought they earned less than researchers. Additionally, I was surprised that a PhD degree provides nurses with a smaller number of career opportunities.
Conclusion
Finally, it is essential to say that both these degrees have advantages and disadvantages. For example, although PhD-prepared nurses earn a prestigious title and can influence clinical research, practice change, and policy, this degree is expensive to receive and is entirely research-focused. Further, among the advantages of a DNP degree, including an increased salary and the possibility of opening one’s own practice, the weaknesses of this degree are that it still requires nurses to do research, especially during the studies, and there may be no positive changes for those who already work as advanced practice nurses.
References
Banerjee, S. (2021). What is PhD nursing? College Dunia. Web.
Cowan, L., Hartjes, T., & Munro, S. (2018). A model of successful DNP and PhD collaboration. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 31(2), 116-123.
Duke University School of Nursing. (n.d.). DNP-PhD comparison. Web.
Neal-Boylan, L. (2020). PhD or DNP? That is the question. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 16(2), 5-6. Web.
Terhaar, M. F., Taylor, L. A., & Sylvia, M. L. (2016). The doctor of nursing practice: From start-up to impact. Nursing Education Perspectives, 37(1), 3-9