Duke University PMHNP Post-Grad Certificate

[Freckledkorican, MSN, APRN]

Hello

Has anyone gone through their program? What did you think? I am considering it and will appreciate any opinions.

Thank you🙂

[dualboardNP, MSN, RN, NP]

I graduated from Duke with my MSN in an NP specialty and knew that I wanted to become dual board certified and pursue my PMHNP postmasters after graduation. While the process for me to transfer to the specialty felt straightforward and I was essentially accepted before graduation, some things to consider:

1) My DUSON experience overall was one that I am satisfied with. My emails would be answered promptly by my professors, all of which were doctorally trained nurses. I felt my education was fantastic and loved the campus.

2) The on-campus intensives once the clinical portion began was a nice way to build community. I choose Duke because I wanted to continue nurturing and growing as an RN, earning as an RN in my area and they were able to support this with the asynchronous learning model.

3) Clinical placements are not promised no matter what they have listed on their website and this became an incredibly stressful part of my DUSON experience while an MSN student there. Despite their pricey tuition, I was doing ALL of the leg work and networking for myself, essentially doing the placement office's work, which took time away from my studies. I made miracles happen and sourced all of my rotations as a DUSON student except for one and never paid a penny to any preceptor registry. For the price that I was paying Duke, I found it unacceptable to have to source my own preceptors. While this seems to be a nationwide issue across the board with preceptors nationally, I felt the school could be more transparent on this and not say they have an extensive alumni network. Not knowing if you are able to graduate on time or progress due to clinical placements isn't a nice a place to be each semester.

4) My experience with clinical placements was not unique to me and something that many students, including those in PMHNP specialty, must grapple with no matter where in the country they're based out of while a DUSON student.

5) The PMHNP is cohort based and starts only once a year, in January and goes on until May of the following year. If you take a leave of absence, you will be delayed as classes are sequential. There are three required in-person intensives for PMHNP each semester that last approximately 4 full days, 7am-5pm. 

6) My partner is a PMHNP and saw me go through the MSN at Duke. He told me to really consider my experiences as I told him that I was leaning towards Duke for PMHNP. In the end, despite receiving a great education for my initial specialty, I ultimately chose another PMHNP program over Duke as a result of the subpar clinical placement experience. While Psych offers more options in terms of placements with telehealth, etc., I felt the price was much too high for me. What I mean is, not only would I be paying tuition, but I'd be paying with my own mental health as a result of all of the sleepless nights, worry and networking to find someone to precept me. Obviously having a partner who is a PMHNP would make the process easier for me, but it was still something that I did not want to deal with. Eventually I found a program that was half the cost and was very happy with pursuing the postmasters elsewhere. 

Best of luck to you. Duke is a GREAT nursing school and even with everything described above, I'd do it all over again (just once) because it suited my life, goals and enabled me to work as an RN the entire time that I was a DUSON student, but the clinical placement situation was truly disappointing.

[Freckledkorican, MSN, APRN]

dualboardNP said:

3) Clinical placements are not promised no matter what they have listed on their website and this became an incredibly stressful part of my DUSON experience while an MSN student there. Despite their pricey tuition, I was doing ALL of the leg work and networking for myself, essentially doing the placement office's work, which took time away from my studies. I made miracles happen and sourced all of my rotations as a DUSON student except for one and never paid a penny to any preceptor registry. For the price that I was paying Duke, I found it unacceptable to have to source my own preceptors. While this seems to be a nationwide issue across the board with preceptors nationally, I felt the school could be more transparent on this and not say they have an extensive alumni network. Not knowing if you are able to graduate on time or progress due to clinical placements isn't a nice a place to be each semester.

Well, crossing Duke off my list. I have a major problem with a university not securing clinical placements. Thank you for the reply!

[Minton06]

I am currently in the Duke PMHNP program. I have found it to be excellent. It is relatively small (MSN and post-master's certificate candidates total 42 students). The head of the program is very dynamic and enthusiastic; my classmates are nice and very competent. 

 With respect to clinical placements, students are told that the nursing school commits to finding every student a placement, if the student makes reasonable efforts to investigate/seek out a placement site. In other words, the student need not be successful in finding a site, but they must make the effort. I find this policy to be reasonable; I do not find it stressful or difficult to reach out to personal contacts or to do internet searches to identify potential preceptors I can email. The nursing school has a Clinical Placement Office that is tasked with finding preceptorships. Each student is assigned to a specific CPO coordinator, which facilitates communications. 

One more thing: there is only one on-campus intensive each semester, of three days duration. 

[dualboardNP, MSN, RN, NP]

I am glad that you are having a good experience in the postmasters Minton06. Re: clinical, each student will have a different experience and much of that is guided by their geographic location. Being in California, I found Duke's clinical placement support limited during my MSN and, with the exception of one clinical rotation, had to source my own or delay my graduation which I found unacceptable for reasons already mentioned. This experience is why I opted to go elsewhere for the PMHNP despite my acceptance into the PMHNP postmasters and appreciation of my DUSON education in other ways. However, clinical placements are a challenge across the board. Some PMHNP students that I spoke to at DUSON ended up having to go to Alaska or Montana for their rotations, great experiences no doubt, but this meant time away from their work, their family, which was often isolating for them all for the sake of clinical experience and hours met. This shouldn't happen. However, it speaks to a systemic issue in advance practice training that goes beyond Duke. 

My biggest advice to anyone wanting to do PMHNP at Duke or elsewhere is to make sure that clinical agreements are in place locally. This will make it easier for you to source rotations stress free. If your PMHNP program has an agreement in place with your local clinic(s) or hospital(s), you are in a much stronger position to train close to home and with ease. Having a preceptor agree to train you means little if your NP program's legal department can't reach an agreement. Best of luck to all!

[Minton06]

Thanks, dualboardNP. Your experience is certainly valuable information.  I would like to provide some additional context for students who may be considering Duke or another program.

First, although I do not pretend to have broad knowledge about different universities' clinical programs, I assume that any school's contacts (and relative ability to land preceptorships for their students) are going to be distributed non-uniformly throughout the country, with a disparate percentage of those contacts located relatively close to the school  For example, I expect that Duke students desiring a preceptorship in North Carolina (or elsewhere in the Mid-Atlantic or Southern states, or Washington DC area) are indeed more likely to benefit from the placement office's contacts than those students seeking preceptorships on the west coast (or Minnesota or Maine or Idaho). Students seeking preceptorships in these other areas very likely will have to hustle much more. But I would be very surprised if that story was different at other schools; I do not see how any school could guarantee a placement in every student's desired locale. 

Second, although I have not spoken to the Duke PMHNP students you talked to, I think I am familiar with the Montana and Alaska opportunities you referenced, as they have been mentioned by our faculty (not the placement office) as potential sites for interested students. The Montana site is on a Native American reservation where Duke NP students and Duke faculty work one week during the Summer. Participating NP students can earn only up to 50 clinical hours, as the experience augments, not substitutes, a clinical placement elsewhere.  The Alaska experience is an unusual opportunity for NP students to get in-patient experience with very ill patients. Although I have no contacts with Alaska, I am considering pursuing the opportunity for the uniqueness of the experience. In the discussions I have had about it with others, I have never gotten the sense that it is a placement site of last resort.  

Third, like dualboardNP, I also completed a MSN in FNP and personally identified and landed all of my preceptorships on my own (with the exception that for one site, I learned-- after my initial overture-- that the school already had a contract in place, as well as a prior relationship with a provider, which proved beneficial). But I wanted to find my own sites because I was very picky about my criteria. I started far in advance and had a preceptor lined up well before the start of the semester (except once, when my preceptor bailed on me and I had to find a replacement on short notice).  I acknowledge, however, that my ability to be flexible geographically made my job much easier; it would have been much more difficult and stressful if I was tied to a particular area by family or job. )

Again, thanks for your very useful information, dualboardNP. I hope your PMHNP placements go smoothly, at your first-choice sites. Out of curiosity, where did you end up going for your PMHNP?