[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.

[Megan]

I feel like this is a great topic to post on this website, and it could be a great place for students to voice their ideas. What kind of experience have you had with patients? Are there any practice problems that have stood out to you?

I have been a nurse for over ten years, and I have worked -with many different types of patients, but I have come to specialize in cardiac and patients on dialysis. When I was working in the ER, speaking with discharged patients, I often came across MANY patients with new onset CHF symptoms that went undiagnosed because they were not sick enough to admit. Giving a new diagnosis of CHF requires long-term care and follow-up. Often, I would see patients coming in fluid-overloaded, given a one-time dose of Lasix, and then discharged – putting a band-aid on the issue but not providing the patients or families with any education. I thought I would do my DNP project on something cardiac-related, possibly just providing ED staff with more educational resources to give borderline new undiagnosed CHF patients, but since I am no longer working in the ED, my focus has shifted.

Since I am now working with ESRD patients in an acute care setting, I want to focus more on that, but I am unsure what my focus will be. Many hospital staff do not know much about dialysis patients, how to care for them properly, or what to do or not do when a patient has hemodialysis, medications to give or hold, etc. It is hard to choose a topic that is simple enough that we can finish it by graduation. Choosing too complex an idea may make the DNP project unattainable. Hope this helps!

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