EKU PMHNP opinions?

lillyg · Aug 24, 2021

I would not do it. I recently received my PMHNP. It is just another cluster @!&k of nursing with the burnout rate just as high. The $$$ promised is not there. The market place is becoming utterly saturated with new grads with no where to go for viable, stable employment. Silicon Valley has jumped into the game (Cerebral for one, look at the employee reviews on glassdoor) and is turning mental health into McDonalds with NPs dispensing pills only. Unless you already are a mental health nurse and are passionate about mental health, the burn and churn can be exhausting. I have only done psych and I love it, but the reward to risk is tilted in favor of this was a bad decision to obtain my NP. I mean to be realistic in this reply, know what you are getting yourself into. If you have a job already lined up and they are just waiting for you to graduate, then go for it.

BlueSandBeach, RN · Dec 29, 2023

Hello antnurse and lillyg, would either of you please tell me what programs you did and your opinions of them? I realize burnout is high but I'm burnt out of my current position now too LOL. I'm looking into EKU and Maryville.

Kyky · Jan 7

My friend LOVED EKU!! She also loves her current job and her checks!

BlueSandBeach, RN · Jan 7

Thank you so much for writing! This is proving to be such a difficult decision! I've narrowed it down to EKU and Mount Carmel. What else can you tell me about EKU? And she found her dream job? I love hearing that!

FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP · Jan 7

lillyg said:

I would not do it. I recently received my PMHNP. It is just another cluster @!&k of nursing with the burnout rate just as high. The $$$ promised is not there. The market place is becoming utterly saturated with new grads with no where to go for viable, stable employment. Silicon Valley has jumped into the game

I must disagree vehemently with this post. I am not invalidating the writer's experience, but this is not the "macro" state of being a PMHNP.

PMHNP is one of the higher paid specialties, although in some locations FNP earnings are coming close.

As they say in real estate: location, location, location. NPs make more in some parts of the country than in others. The SE US pays poorly, unfortunately. The West and East Coasts pay significantly more. CA pays the highest. And before people start going on about CA being expensive, not all parts of the state are super expensive. The inland areas are still pretty affordable. My employer pays PMHNPs up to $120 per hour as a perm employee, based on education and experience. I'd say that's quite good! (And, yes, we are hiring).

PMHNP lends itself very well to telehealth. That means a PMHNP could live somewhere with a low cost of living, like OK, and work for a CA practice making CA wages (if they get their CA license).

I do not understand why PMHNP would cause any greater burn out than any other NP speciality. Unfortunately, the norm now is for many, short appointments, and that goes for FNPs, too. Most practices have 40 min intakes and 20 minute f/u appts. Some places have only 15 min for a f/u. If I only have f/u appts, I see 24 patients in an 8 hour day. It was stressful at first, but now I am used to it. And any new grad NP is going to be very stressed out for their first 1-2 years. There are practices that allow for longer appointments, but those are not common.

A PMHNP that finds psych overly stressful may have chosen the wrong specialty for themself.

As far as saturation, again location, location, location. CA has a dire shortage of mental health providers. Maybe other states have a surplus, I don't know. However, since a PMHNP can easily work via telehealth, they can work for practices located anywhere, as long as they get the requisite state license.

Note: As a new grad NP (I started in primary care), in retrospect, I would have been better off working part time to start and ramping up to full time. That would have greatly reduced my stress level. Some of my classmates had to cut back to part-time due to stress during their 1st and 2nd years. Right now I work 32 hours a week and that is about right for now. My hourly rate is quite high, so I am still making good money. I will try to increase my hours to 36 in a few more months.