ACNP and Phmnp

Nursing Students NP Students

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I'm going to be graduating with my BSN shortly and have an interest in Acute Care Nurse Practitioner- Intensivist and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and I'm interested in being licensed with both boards but I'm not sure on which program I should go to first. Please note I would not practice these specialities together I plan on practicing each specialty independently in different settings, i.e ICU as my main focus and Mental Health on a part time basis/gig and vice versa.

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Multiple posts are here already about various "double board" combinations, which almost nobody recommends.

Do the research to see why.

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I wouldn't go for that combination and given the nature of care and billing I would never dual cert. Pick one and go for it. Because you'll rarely find a situation where both are utilized and appreciated.

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I have not been able to find much information on this other than you would be held medically responsible in although you are in the role of Phmnp if there was medical negligence due to you being held accountable to practice to your fullest licensure and educational ability.

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I have not been able to find much information on this other than you would be held medically responsible in although you are in the role of Phmnp if there was medical negligence due to you being held accountable to practice to your fullest licensure and educational ability.

The reality is you are rarely paid as an np with multiple certs to perform both roles. Most will perform in one or the other at a time. Yes the multiple certs broadens your knowledge, but keeping track off clinical hours required to maintain certification as well as contact hours between the two would be a nightmare. As an fnp, I see and care for basic psych cases on a daily basis. Enough to probably justify a post masters psych. But I would need to get my role in A primary care practice either split for concrete psych hours or moonlight in my of time. Not worth the cost to do both as fnp gives me at least some foundation in basic psych primary care.

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My goal is to practice in one role at a time. I would never imagine practicing both roles at the same facility. Maybe I should rephrase my question?

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To be any good, you would need extensive job experience in both fields, minimum of 3 years each, and then you would be trying to split yourself in half with two jobs, and never be paid, or appreciated in any other way.

If anyone has found this logistically do-able, or marketable, I would love to hear it, but to me it sounds like having two families in different cities, haha.

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To be any good, you would need extensive job experience in both fields, minimum of 3 years each, and then you would be trying to split yourself in half with two jobs, and never be paid, or appreciated in any other way.

If anyone has found this logistically do-able, or marketable, I would love to hear it, but to me it sounds like having two families in different cities, haha.

Completly understood but I kinda thought of it as a person who is a ICU RN and does per diem ER on the side a couple days a week. In regards to Phmnp I don't believe I would require much floor Psych RN experience as I believe the program would definitely provide me with a solid base, however for ACNP I plan on working CVICU or ER for a year prior to applying to a program.

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My goal is to practice in one role at a time. I would never imagine practicing both roles at the same facility. Maybe I should rephrase my question?

Your first job usually requires a very bare, bare minimum of 40 hours a week. Then you have a life, then you are going to add another job?

In theory, it could be done. But not sure why anyone would live that way.

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The reasoning is due to me wanting to be able to find a high paying job wherever I go in a specialty I love. Such as if I move to a state where ACNP jobs are scarce I know I will be able to at least practice as a Phmnp and love what I do and not have to settle.

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Could be. Not completely impossible. I thought the same thing years ago, got the ANP, then the PMHNP.

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The reasoning is due to me wanting to be able to find a high paying job wherever I go in a specialty I love. Such as if I move to a state where ACNP jobs are scarce I know I will be able to at least practice as a Phmnp and love what I do and not have to settle.

At this moment and the foreseeable future, you are rarely gonna find ACNP our pmhnp jobs scarce. They're among the two fields significantly low in numbers and as consensus model goals become reality you will find many hospitals requiring ACNP and struggling to hire those with a cert. To recert every 5 years you will need the right contact hours for each and enough clinical time to recertify. So you will be stuck picking up hours off time from one job, or quitting a job every few years to do another field that you are now (not a selling point to employers).

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