Shadowing a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner

zenman · May 14, 2011

Many clients have high anxiety and some even have to take meds to show up, then there's that therapeutic relationship where you'd be a 3 rd party.

t2krookie · May 14, 2011

She could go the route of local public OP clinic. The clientele zenman is describing I find more often in the private practices. In the public mental health clinic, the clients are often simply happy to have someone to talk to about refills or side effects and most often they end up seeing a different practitioner every two visits anyways so while desirable, the therapeutic relationship is not really a reality among this socioeconomic group. Another good part of this approach is that you see a high volume of patients and a nice case mix. Best educational opportunity available in my opinion. However, be prepared. Psych work takes an incredible amount of patience and a damn good control of ones temper at times. It may or may not b your cup o tea.

dp1200 · May 14, 2011

I applied to a NP program last year and was waitlisted. I do not have a medical background, so I decided to wait a year and figure out if this is really what I want to do. I still have a strong interest and plan on using this year to improve my GRE score and take some prerequisites. I think it would be really helpful for me and interesting to shadow a psychiatric nurse practitioner - is this something that is commonly done? Can anyone let me know how to go about finding someone to shadow? I am in Massachusetts. Thank you!

Shadowing may help somewhat if you can actually find an NP that will take a shadow. I asked about this at the NP program I am intending to apply to for next year, and was told straight up that they don't do this for a number of reasons - liability, patient confidentiality, too busy, etc. Mind you, I'm not criticizing. If were a working NP I can't say I'd really want to bothered with a shadow either.

Your best bet will probably be to start getting yourself a medical background. That is a HUGE component of the admission process from what I have seen. These programs are very competitive to get into and they want to know that you know what you are getting into and it's what you really want.

I'm coming from a non-healthcare background also (engineering), and started this transition by taking an EMT class. I've been working as an EMT on an ambulance for a year now and I love it. I'm also now working a second job in a local hospital ER, which is giving me additional valuable experience and exposure. I love the work, and it has helped me decide that this really is where I want to be. IMO, trying to make the jump straight into an NP program with no health care experience at all, when you're not even certain it's what you want to do, is questionable.

luckylady5 · May 19, 2011

Thank you for the replies; all good points I hadn't thought of.

Granted Fal · Oct 16, 2011

I would strongly suggest you get some real medical experience, preferably in the psychiatric field, as a nurse before you enter any such program. This will only make you a more well rounded clinician and increase your overall capacity. Frankly, I think it really should be mandatory for anyone that will eventually be dealing with, managing, and prescribing to patients that may also have numerous medical comorbidities. I could go on but I won't diatribe here.

Granted Fal · Oct 16, 2011

Many clients have high anxiety and some even have to take meds to show up, then there's that therapeutic relationship where you'd be a 3 rd party.

Zenman,

If done professionally and, of course, at the discretion of the patient, 3 won't destroy a therapeutic alliance. But the third party has to also build rapport. This is done best I think in serving in an assistive and supportive way to the clinician and integrating into their practice. In other words the apprentice should know that patient just as well as the clinician and may serve as a liaison in the absence of the clinician. Unfortunately, this rarely happens at the graduate schooling level and you may just sit around doing stuff during clinicals on a unit or in a clinic somewhere in even lesser a capacity than you did as an RN. This is a travesty as you can't learn that way and it sets you up to not be prepared after you graduate. I found that many clinicians aren't vested at all in perpetuating the field by not accepting students into learning roles. However, I think the mentoring or shadowing piece is extremely important in the learning process in too many ways to count and it seems that many states' laws actually may inhibit that from occurring after you graduate. It's more like, "oh, ok, you're a graduate now with no experience, go ahead on and start prescribing now..." Medical interns had to do thousands of hours observing and shadowing during residency like this, why should APRNs be any different?

zenman · Oct 16, 2011

Yes, but we're talking about shadowing which is usually very short-term and not assisting, being supportive, or doing anything for the clinician as they know nothing. The shadow is not an apprentice or intern. While there are some patients who don't care there are many who don't want to see a new face who is popping in briefly.

Granted Fal · Oct 16, 2011

That's true you have a point

vitiana · Apr 13, 2016

Where you able to shadow a PMHNP ? I live in MA and Im looking into PMHNP programs too. Were you able to build up some medical experience ?

vitiana · Apr 13, 2016

I applied to a NP program last year and was waitlisted. I do not have a medical background, so I decided to wait a year and figure out if this is really what I want to do. I still have a strong interest and plan on using this year to improve my GRE score and take some prerequisites. I think it would be really helpful for me and interesting to shadow a psychiatric nurse practitioner - is this something that is commonly done? Can anyone let me know how to go about finding someone to shadow? I am in Massachusetts. Thank you!

Were yoi able to shadow a PMHNP please?

elkpark · Apr 13, 2016

Most psychiatric professionals and clinics do not allow "shadowing" for reasons of confidentiality. How would you like to have some stranger sit in on your sessions with your psychiatric provider just to see whether or not s/he might be interested in going into a mental health field?