Reply To: The Discouragement Received From Nurse Colleagues When Pursuing DNP

[Megan]

Avery, I am sorry this has been your experience. I feel equally discouraged sometimes when discussing my degree with others because it is often misunderstood. It seems as if the Masters’s degree in nursing is all the rage right now, and people do not understand why getting a doctorate is necessary. I feel like this common perception is why we are not meeting the IOM’s call for action to have more DNP-prepared APRNs.
Back when I was a new graduate (over ten years ago), I remember hospitals were starting to require nurses with bachelor’s degrees in nursing at the time of hire or often within the next 6 months. After the COVID-19 pandemic, I feel that standard was tossed in the wind a bit with the increased nursing shortage, and I am constantly meeting nurses in the hospital with associate degrees and not a bachelors. While I do feel that experience on the floor is vital for a nurse to gain as much expertise as possible because there are some things that cannot be learned in school, I also feel that pursuing MORE education is the best way to advance the nursing discipline to gain the respect all our of hard work. This is true for bachelor-prepared nurses compared to associates, as it is true for nurses with a master’s degree versus a doctorate. I feel that our background in evidence-based practice with a doctoral degree will advance nursing to its maximum potential. While obtaining a master’s degree is faster and cheaper than a doctoral degree, I do feel we will be better prepared to advance nursing further than nurses with master’s degrees. The nursing shortage on the floor and in faculty is only estimated to increase in the coming years as senior nurses retire more. I feel that a doctoral degree is the answer to this crisis, as it opens the door for more nurses to be able to teach and obtain tenure. I love extending my knowledge in the field to others, and I could see myself teaching further into my career, with my DNP degree as the key to allowing that future to manifest.