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 subject about whether or not practice should inspire research questions OR if future researchers without experience ask different questions. The blog post covers that dilemma.

Choosing the right program is really important for the PhD. Reviewing this post will help. your decision making. I also cover how to choose even when you cannot move for school.

Balancing family factors is a life constant when you have partners and children of any age. I review key considerations for prospective students who have these factors to consider.

The money question always comes up with PhD study because it often requires a financial sacrifice for a few years. There are, however, ways to balance the career investment that will pay off long term.

For internationally educated nurses interested in pursuing a nursing or midwifery PhD in the United States, the link to this blog post will help you prepare in ways that go beyond the recommendations in the posts above.

Full disclosure: I am the new PhD program director for New York University's Meyer's College of Nursing as of July 1, 2020. I write this guide as much to find good matches for our program, but for the broader purpose of encouraging nurses and midwives everywhere to go back for PhD study. 

We can't make change without evidence. A PhD turns you into an evidence maker!