A second advanced-level nursing degree is a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (Ph.D.). This academically focused nursing degree aims at preparing a nurse to bring his knowledge to teaching or research rather than hands-on clinical practice. Most online universities that offered a Doctor of Nursing Science program have begun to phase that degree out and offer the practice-based DNP or the academically based Ph.D.
Requirements for admission to online graduate-level nursing programs vary from school to school, but there are some basic requirements seen at most universities. A grade point average of 3.0 or higher is a standard requirement in almost every university. A statistics course, some schools require a graduate-level statistics course, with a grade of C or higher is a typical requirement. A master's or bachelor's degree in nursing and a current nursing license is also a requirement for advanced-level online nursing programs. Some schools also require pre-admission interviews and competitive scores on the Graduate Record Examination.
Some universities offering online graduate-level nursing programs require a specialization to be chosen, others give an option for specialization and some require no specialization. Typical specializations are adult acute-care nurse practitioner, family nurse practitioner and pediatric nurse practitioner. These require advanced specialized courses focusing on the chosen specialization. Some universities offer numerous specializations for their online DNP program. For example, University of Pittsburg offers an online DNP program that has eight different specialty areas to choose from including nursing administration, clinical nurse specialist in medical surgery, clinical nurse specialist in psychiatric mental health, acute-care nurse practitioner, adult nurse practitioner, family nurse practitioner, neonatal nurse practitioner and pediatric nurse practitioner.
A DNP-seeking student is typically required to take courses in statistics for health sciences, health policy, molecular and clinical genetics, health care information systems, theories of nursing, the science of nursing, philosophy of nursing, theory development and evaluation, emerging diseases, population health, health care systems, epidemiology and ethics of nursing. Many upper-level advanced statistic courses are required, as are hours of clinical and practice in a hospital or clinic.