Nursing (M.S.) with a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Concentration

The MSN student completes 51 credits and a minimum of 750 hours of direct, supervised clinical hours with the majority within psychiatric mental health community partners (630 hours). The MSN with a PMHNP concentration prepares the student to sit for the national Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) examination. The curriculum prepares the student to achieve the following outcomes:

1. Prepare for independent practice as an advanced care provider embodying the tenets of nursing and practice to the highest level of licensure. The advanced practice nurse provides safe, holistic, innovative, and comprehensive care across the lifespan using evidence, scientific knowledge, and science-based theory. 

2. Demonstrate leadership skills through the assessment of patient’s bio-physical, emotional, behavioral, and social determinants impacting health and engaging in the improvement of healthcare outcomes. Engaging in collaborative communication with patients, caregivers, communities, and other healthcare professionals and leaders.

3. Analyzing, evaluating, and integrating quality improvement, evidence-based research, evidenced-based quality patient care, informatics, and healthcare technologies to enhance interprofessional communication and resources for quality care delivery.

4. Evaluate, interpret, and integrate healthcare policies to deliver care as an advocate for health to provide safe, effective, ethical, equitable, and holistic care.

5. Employ health promotion, education, resilience and self-care strategies for patients, healthcare providers and ones’ self through the integration of technology, science based resources and community services.

The course sequence is as follows :

At completion of 51 credits, the student is prepared to sit for the national certification examination for Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners.

The minimum acceptable grade is B- or greater. If a student earns less than a B- within a course, the student will be required to retake the course. A required course may be repeated once. If the student is not successful in earning a B- or greater, the student will be disenrolled from the program.