How a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Degree can strengthen your Career

If you are planning to do a doctorate, you have to consider a number of things—the program you wish to join, the field, and the idea to research. However, the ultimate question that you should ask yourself is what it means for your career. The nursing field attracts professionals from other disciplines who wish to further their careers by doing a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree. It is one of the advanced post-graduate programs in nursing, which is ideal for nurses who wish to take an area of specialization within the profession. This takes a shorter time and maybe convenient for the nurses who do not want to spend a lot of time doing their post-graduate degrees. For those who want to be experts in their fields, a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree is the most appropriate. A DNP is the highest degree one can obtain in the nursing field; however, it is an avenue for a range of opportunities for the professionals who are interested. It is therefore important to elucidate on how a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree can strengthen your career.

A DNP is one of the two doctoral programs in nursing the other being a Doctor of Philosophy. To complete any of the programs, one should be prepared to spend between three to six years. They all offer great opportunities for career development and diverse pathways in career. Moreover, such changes come with an increase in remuneration. For a nurse who has always been restricted to the walls of the hospital, these two doctoral programs are your way into the research world because they give you an opportunity to investigate novel ways of caring for the patients. Most people ask ‘what does a DNP do?’ before they make the important decision pitting DNP vs PhD. Most DNP professionals have the commitment to improve the patient outcomes. They also translate the evidence-based strategies within the healthcare system into clinical practice. Nurses with PhDs, on the other hand, may engage in research and even teach at the college or university levels.

It takes approximately three to five years to complete a doctoral degree in nursing (DNP) program. Therefore, it is important that you prepare for the excruciating academic journey that will take you away from your job and family. It is a sacrifice that many have second thoughts before taking, which is why you have to understand how a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree can strengthen your career. Even though it is not a requirement for some of the advanced jobs in nursing, it is important for those who wish to take leadership roles within the profession. The same way a PhD is necessary for teaching in nursing colleges and universities, a DNP is your license to being in key decision-making bodies on the clinical side.

Therefore, for the nurses whose ambitions point at being at the management or executive levels, this is the right program for you. The question ‘why get a DNP?’ is old school. In an era when the nursing profession is continuously becoming a darling of many, the desire to be at key decision-making organs has increased, especially among the already practicing nurses. It is needless to stress how a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree can strengthen your career. Moreover, nurses with doctorate degrees are always in high demand because there are growing needs to have highly skilled nurses who can help the world manage the high number of the aging population and the ever-evolving healthcare issues. Besides the lucrative DNP salary, there are more reasons to enroll for the DNP program sooner.