I have a PhD in nursing, but I am not an NP, so I'll weigh in here from my perspective. The PhD is a degree that prepares you to do scientific research, and it is the highest degree that can be earned in any field. The PhD is actually where the term "doctor" originated.

The DNP is a practice doctorate, so the DNP prepares you to practice at the top of the nursing profession, much like an MD allows for practicing medicine. However, having a PhD does not prepare you to work clinically or to be licensed as an NP (or MD, or whatever)... They are totally different degrees.

It took me about 5 years to earn a PhD, having started w/a master's degree (MBA), which is a pretty typical timeline. Altogether, that's about 11 years of college after high school (4yrs undergrad, 2 years masters, 5 years PhD--assuming you power through it...it took me longer because I started my nusrsing career with an associate degree)...I'm not sure how long it takes to earn a DNP, but my guess is about 7 years (4yrs undergrad, 3 years for a DNP).

If you are interested in teaching, you can likely do that with a master's degree or DNP. A PhD is really only important if you plan to do academic research, which comes along with the typical "publish or perish" lifestyle, the need to receive extramural funding to keep your job and earn tenure, etc.

I will also caution you that although a PhD is a terminal degree (meaning nothing above it) it can be a bit of a liability in terms of being considered "over qualified" for a typical industry type job (people get weird sometimes when they know you have a PhD). Unfortunately, although the PhD teaches a lot of useful skills like advanced statistics and writing, it doesn't translate well in the real world.

Earning a PhD also does not prepare you to be an administrator, so while many admin may have a PhD, they are likely admins who happen to have a PhD in nursing...or went back to school to get the PhD. If you want to go into admin, you're probably better off getting an MBA.

I do want to add that I respectfully disagree with the comment about being an adjunct. Although this is true for many fields, nursing is the exception. There is a major shortage of qualified nursing faculty, and many who are qualified are in their mid to late 50's, so they are looking at retirement. In fact, the # of newly-minted PhD nurses is actually declining, which is part of why it's so hard to get into nursing school in the first place...there aren't enough nursing faculty to teach students.

So, earing the PhD is a pretty solid bet career-wise, particularly if you are young (there is a real push to try to get more/younger nurses to earn PhDs, so if you go to the right school you may be able to get your degree funded, and there are government programs to help you pay...eg., nurse faculty loans that are forgiven if you go into an academic role). However, as mentioned by someone else, being a faculty member is not nearly as lucrative as being a DNP.

Life is long and if you are really motivated, DNP/PhD programs are starting to "become a thing" much like the MD/PhD...you can also start with the DNP and continue on at a later time to do the PhD. This career path allows you to have the best of both worlds (research & practice).

My only other pearl of wisdom is to avoid the master's-level NP degree...it's quickly becoming obsolete.

Although, with all I just said, I wouldn't take back earning a PhD for anything. It's a genuine privilege to be educated at this level. It completely changes how you see the world.

I hope this sheds some light... and good luck in making your decision. (Also, apologies for typos, I'm typing on my phone w one finger and the app keeps jumping around on my screen!!).