Best Experience for PMHNP

[WrekDiver88]

I have been working in critical care for six years, but am considering getting my PMHNP, and wondering what the best psych experience would be before applying to school? I got my first BS in psychology before going to nursing school, so it has always been an area of interest for me. I would most likely plan on working outpatient, or possibly some inpatient consults after school (I am sure this could change as I find an environment/niche I really enjoy). Would working inpatient or clinic be the best place to start for useful experience?

[bryanleo9]

Volunteer to go onto an inpatient acute psych unit to see what it's like. Outpatient can turn acute quickly.

[bryanleo9]

You really need a strong psych RN background to be working inpatient with suicidal and self injurious behavior. See if you can go per diem in psych.

[umbdude, MSN, APRN]

Glad to hear that you want to get some psych experience before school.

If you've never had focused psych experience, I think inpatient psych would be a great place to start. This is mostly because you're surrounded by techs, RNs, social workers, and psychiatrists or PMHNPs so you can learn the most in the shortest amount of time. You'll get exposure to all sorts of meds, milieu management, de-escalation, detox (depending on the unit), various clinical manifestations, restraints, and some rare stuff that you will probably never see in an outpatient environment. If possible, work in a reputable psych hospital (usually research hospitals). I think there's a difference in terms of practices and what you'll see and learn.

But either inpatient or outpatient psych is better than no experience at all. Also, at the end of the day the NP role is quite different. I think above anything, if feasible, cut back work hours during your PMHNP program and read as many psychiatry texts and get as many clinical hours as you can. Just my 2 cents.

[bryanleo9]

I respect that you want experience before starting down the PMHNP path. I have about 8 years of inpatient acute psych experience and we would get PMHNP students arriving for clinicals. It was as if they had seen a ghost. Upon witnessing the feces and flesh eaters, or guys that would crack their head open from banging it repeatedly against the door these students eyes would be very exophthalmic to say the least.

They didn't even get to experience the patients who cut off their own testicles or pluck out their own eyes out before eating them of course. See, this is real inpatient psych. Many of these PMHNP students decided psych just wasn't for them and changed specialties. Psych is not for everybody....in fact it probably has the lowest percentage of RN working in it of all the fields of nursing.

I encourage all students who want to become PMHNP to go and see what the job entails before signing up. Many people see what PMHNP make and think they should do that. That is not the case. Axis 2 or 1 , serotonin syndrome or NMS, top psych meds side effects and usage must be mastered.

In the outpatient you will have drug addicts constantly trying to get you to to prescribe them benzos or amphetamines for their kids "ADHD."

Good luck.