[Kristina]

Wow, this is so disheartening to hear. Sadly, I believe these comments come from a bit of ignorance. As difficult as it is to hear these comments, I feel these conversations position the DNP hopeful well to inform others and take steps to change this mentality. I am pursuing a master’s degree in nursing administration and often I get the other side of that insult, people seem surprised that I would “only” be obtaining a master’s degree and not going “all the way” to be prepared at the doctoral level. I think what is important is that each one of us knows what our goals are and knows how to obtain the education we need to meet those goals. Also, we can expect others to not understand our situation from where they sit. We need to embrace these discussions and see them as an opportunity to help others have a new perspective and better understanding of the big picture. The reality is, we need nurses on all educational levels to complete the work and the journey is different and unique for each one of us. My hope is we can embrace and support one another to advance our profession to new levels together.

[Kristina]

As the profession of nursing continues to grow and evolve, I can see that there is still much confusion and misunderstanding about how these roles and degrees exist and what each one can bring to the table. I would assume that administrators in academia would be slightly more aware than perhaps in the practice setting but maybe that is not necessarily true. One perspective that I can bring to this discussion is the idea of finding the right fit for the open position and considering the goals of the candidate in question. If I was the administrator responsible for filling these vacant faculty positions, I might wonder if an NP with a DNP degree applying for a faculty position is wanting to teach or do clinical practice. I assume that APRNs would likely want to be in the clinical practice setting and depending on what the open faculty position entails, this may or maybe not be a fit. Finding the right fit is essential for increasing employee satisfaction and ultimately securing longevity and decreasing turnover. I hope that insight helps and I wish you luck as you seek to find your perfect position.

[Kristina]

To my knowledge, my organization does not compensate specifically for obtaining an academic DNP degree. However, they compensate if an individual earns a degree higher than what is required for their position. So, if a BSN is required for a specific nursing position and the nurse earns an MSN degree, that nurse will be compensated with one additional step in their pay for their over-achievement. Additionally, my organization has generous tuition reimbursement for nurses pursuing higher education and many opportunities to earn educational scholarships. For those of us that have spent a large portion of our career paying off loans for our undergraduate work, this is a wonderful perk. In general, positions in my organization are compensated for the skills and knowledge (education level) needed to complete the work at hand. Nurses that have earned their APRN license along with a DNP degree will certainly be compensated higher than an RN with a BSN degree. These positions would be on completely different pay scales. Ultimately, if I am working at an organization that fosters a culture of support by offering financial assistance for advancement endeavors then that is what is most important to me as I seek professional growth.

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