Skip to main content

The Pros of Doing a Post-Doc

In 2019, we started a conversation about doing a Post-Doc (or not). Life happens and so now I'm circling back to continue the conversation in 2020.

A post-doctoral fellowship, for nursing, is an additional two to three years of training after you finish your PhD. A post-doc can be a great opportunity to build additional skills and expand your network of mentors. For example, if you did a qualitative dissertation then building your quantitative skills as they relate to your dissertation work is a logical next step in developing your program of research.

A post-doc is also the perfect time to publish. Highly competitive candidates for faculty positions at top schools typically have between 5 and 10 publications resulting from their post-doc, sometimes more. To meet that goal, it is an ideal opportunity to go back to your papers that you wrote during your doctoral coursework and see which ones can be developed into papers.  Papers that demonstrate collaboration with your post-doc mentor are also important and you may be asked to take the lead on those.  And above all else, submit or publish at least one paper from your dissertation.

Networking is also a skill to develop during your post-doc. Rarely in your career will you have the time to develop your networks as you will during your post-doc. You want people to know your work and you want to know who are the good collaborators in your field.   It will help your program of research grow and flourish, even in times of tight funding.

Finally, your post-doc is the perfect time to do the pilot work that you need to put together larger grants. Small grant funding will help you have data for several years that will keep you in publications before your big grant comes. If you choose a faculty role, then as you take on teaching, having data to work with as you develop your classroom management skills--which can take time and often affect publication productivity for new faculty.

There are a lot of pros to doing a post-doc. The right opportunity will set you up to make your vision for research a reality.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

There Are Other Masters Degrees Besides a Nurse Practitioner - Part I

It strikes me that many students and nurses do not seem to know about the "other" masters degree options for nurses.  Everyone seems to want to be a nurse practitioner these days.  Now, that's great news for the primary care provider shortage, but we need nurses with masters degrees who can work in other positions and have other skill sets. Let's review the other masters degrees in nursing.  Nearest and dearest to my own heart is Nursing Education.  Remember that really cool clinical instructor you had in your entry-level nursing program --that could be you!  Do you like precepting new hires?  Are you the person on your unit who unofficially keeps everyone up-to-date on the latest evidence?  Do you really enjoy patient teaching, whether in the hospital or community setting?  Do you just like to teach?  Nursing education is the right masters for you.  Skills learned in a nursing education masters cannot be learned on the job.  Cur...
2 comments
Read more

Is it time to get your PhD in Nursing or Midwifery?

 Over the years, I've written a lot about pursuing a PhD in nursing and I'm including midwives because we need more PhD prepared midwives too.  Getting a PhD is a great way to address the problems you've seen on the frontlines of COVID-19, another way to address the social injustices of racism and discrimination on health outcomes, and to make your voice heard by the decision-makers. A third of the 1% of nurses with PhDs will retire in the next five years so we need people to take their place. We cannot lose our voices in all the places where nurses and midwives with PhDs work. Here's a compilation of the posts I've written about getting a PhD and the things to think about as you figure out where you want to apply. PhD or DNP?   This is where many people start when trying to decide on their doctoral-level career advancement. This post has my two cents on the topic. Should you work as a nurse before getting a PhD?   There's a lot of opinions out there on this sub...
3 comments
Read more

Codes

Remember your first code?  That time when you see that first patient under your care go into respiratory or cardiac arrest?  Haven't had one yet?  It will come, soon enough. Responding to a code takes some training.  Simulation has gone a long way in helping new healthcare providers respond better to that first emergency.  It doesn't mean that first time doesn't make you freeze up; make you cold with fear that whatever you do will not be enough; of having to talk to the family, comfort them if things do not go well. Any emergency response requires training.  Anyone who thinks that in the face of danger, they will respond heroically and with a clear head has never actually been in that kind of situation.  Ask any soldier who has gone through battle and many will tell you the first time in the face of real danger did not necessarily go as they had been told in training.  They did not necessarily respond as they thought they would, as they would ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Translate