Post-Graduate APRN Psychiatric Mental Health Certificate Program
Program Description
The post-graduate APRN certification program in psychiatric mental health nursing is available for currently licensed and certified advanced practice nurses. The Post-Graduate APRN PMHNP certificate program prepares nurses who have already earned a master’s degree, or higher, in nursing to sit for either the national certification examination offered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) or American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). Approved psychiatric mental health settings include acute inpatient psychiatric units and outpatient psychiatric settings that include behavioral health centers, community health clinics, substance use clinics and facilities, and private practices that manage patients across the lifespan with mental health disorders.
This is a 21-25 credit hour program, consisting of five didactic and two variable credit clinical courses. All didactic courses are offered via online modalities. Four didactic courses focus on implementation of disciplined reasoning in the application of therapeutic and evidence-based psychiatric mental health advanced nursing practice across the lifespan. An additional didactic course is designed to reinforce role delineation between the primary care and psychiatric mental health APRN and explore common practice issues specific to the psychiatric mental health APRN. This course will explore the foundations of the role along with an overall introduction to psychiatric mental health nursing across the lifespan.
National certification requires a minimum 500 clock hours of direct patient care in the advanced role and population. However, some students may have accrued appropriate hours prior to admission. Therefore, the program will be personalized via gap analyses (see Appendix 1) to determine the number of clinical practicum hours required of each student. Any hours accrued prior to admission must have been academically supervised and completed in an appropriate psychiatric mental health setting (as detailed above). The number of practicum hours required to complete this program are equal to 9 academic credits (540 clock hours), based upon the gap analysis. Students will be responsible for committing to and scheduling clinical hours each semester with guidance from the track coordinator, taking into consideration his or her home and work commitments.
Graduate students should plan for a minimum of one classroom (delivered via synchronous and asynchronous methods) hour per registered credit per week and three outside hours of preparation per registered credit per week (e.g. 5 credits = 5 classroom hours/week, 15 outside hours/week = 20 hours/week). Please note that clinical rotations with approved preceptors in the final year of your program must be arranged with course faculty.
Post-Graduate APRN PMHNP Certificate Program Outcomes
Graduates of the Post-Graduate APRN PMHNP certificate program will be able to:
- Integrate theories and evidence based on the art and science of nursing knowledge as well as other disciplines to make clinical decisions in the delivery of advanced psychiatric nursing care to patients across the lifespan.
- Formulate and communicate ethical and compassionate evidence-based individualized plans of care that promote a holistic well-being, resiliency, and mental health recovery, and provide treatments for psychiatric disorders that meet the needs of the individual, family, and community while acknowledging the importance of inclusivity, equity, and the SDOH.
- Collaborate with interprofessional teams and other stakeholders to formulate quality ideas or initiatives informed by policy and guidelines that advance safe patient care, improve patient outcomes, promote equity, and reduce risks to individuals, families, providers, and communities.
- Disseminate recommendations from clinical practice guidelines, evidence-based interventions, and knowledge from nursing and other sciences to improve psychiatric mental healthcare delivery and patient outcomes for diverse patients across the lifespan.
- Coordinate resources to provide safe, quality psychiatric and behavioral health care.
- Utilize information and technologies to provide psychiatric mental health care, gather data to drive clinical decision making, and support advanced-practice professionals in managing and improving the delivery of safe, high-quality, transparent healthcare services in accordance with best practice and professional regulatory standards.
- Model behaviors that reflect accountability, leadership qualities, a collaborative nature, ethical practice standards, and the values of the advanced practice psychiatric mental health nurse.
- Participate in activities and self-reflection that foster compassionate self-care, resilience, well-being, lifelong learning, and leadership development as advanced practice psychiatric mental health nurse.
Progression Plan*
Course Descriptions
NSG 774: Neuro-Psychopharmacology: 3 credits (Didactic, Fall only). Students will focus on principles of neurobiology including neurodevelopment, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neurochemistry, and advanced theories in the neuroscience of psychiatric illnesses. Psychopharmacologic agents, their clinical uses in psychiatric illness, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacogenomics will be reviewed in depth. Students will learn to synthesize information through a case-based method related to psychopharmacological treatment of mental disorders across the lifespan.
NSG 775: PMHNP Role and Foundations: 3 credits (Didactic, Fall only). Prerequisite or concurrent- NSG 774. The focus of this course is on the scope and standards of practice and prescriptive authority for the PMHNP. Students will obtain an overview of the classification system in the DSM-5, an introduction of psychiatric disorders, and levels and standards of the PMHNP role, including the Standards of Profession Performance for the PMHNP.
NSG 776: Psychotherapy Modalities: 3 credits (Didactic/Clinical, Fall only). Prerequisite or concurrent- NSG 774 and NSG 775. This course will provide students with a comprehensive exploration of selected evidence-based psychotherapeutic concepts, modalities, and interventions for individuals, families, and groups across the lifespan. Students will learn to integrate various psychotherapeutic approaches into a model that will guide their practice. Course content will include therapeutic alliance development and management skills, trauma-informed care, clinical intervention strategies, motivational interviewing, and the promotion of recovery and resilience. The clinical practicum allows the student to integrate assessment skills and psychotherapeutic interventions into the clinical environment. Students will apply their knowledge in developing appropriate evidence based psychotherapeutic treatment interventions in a coherent and practical manner for their identified patient, family, or group. Course includes 30 clinical hours of psychotherapy.
NSG 777: PMHNP Management of Adults: 3 credits (Didactic, Spring only). Prerequisites- NSG 774, NSG 775, NSG 776. Prerequisites NSG 775 and NSG 776 may be taken concurrently. This course focuses on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to perform advanced clinical differential diagnoses and management of adults and geriatrics with mental health disorders utilizing the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5. Students will learn to apply the principles of psychopharmacology and psychotherapies to the care of adults of all ages.
NSG 779: PMHNP Management of Child/Adolescent: 3 credits (Didactic, Summer only). Prerequisite- NSG 777. This course focuses on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to perform advanced clinical differential diagnoses and management of children and adolescents with mental health disorders utilizing the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5. Students will learn to apply the principles of psychopharmacology and psychotherapies to the care of children and adolescents.
NSG 782: PMHNP Clinical Practicum: 1-5 credit hours (Clinical, Fall, Spring, and Summer). Prerequisites NSG 777 and NSG 779. This clinical course allows students to practice the knowledge, skills, and attitudes attained in foundational PMHNP courses. It focuses on the application of neuro-psychopharmacology, assessment, and psychotherapeutic treatments. Students perform advanced clinical differential diagnoses and management of patients across the lifespan with mental health disorders, utilizing the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5.
*Throughout the program, students will be required to complete a minimum of 21 - 23 credit hours, of which 6 - 10 will be practicum credits. The program includes 540 total clinical hours (30 in NSG 776 and 510 hours in NSG 782). The program will be personalized via gap analyses to determine the number of clinical practicum hours required of each student (minimum 360 hours).
Clinical Placements
We ask that students assist faculty in identifying preceptors for clinical practicum courses. For the fall term, students will need 30 observational hours with a licensed, credentialed therapist who must be approved by faculty. Between the spring and summer semesters, students will need 510 clinical hours with a psychiatric provider approved by faculty.
In the spring, students will see adult patients only. In the summer semester, students must see children and adolescents, in addition to adults if they desire. There is an option to slow the clinical progression down if needed. Students can extend their clinical hours by an additional semester. This would allow students to register for fewer credits and complete fewer clinical hours during the clinical practicum courses in the spring and summer. This option can be discussed with your clinical faculty advisor during the first semester of the program.
Due to potential preceptor limitations, students may have to travel out of their local areas to their clinical sites and are required to provide their own reliable transportation.