family nurse practitioner to psychiatric nurse practitioner

Specialties NP

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Hello All,

I am new to this site. I have my BSN and my doctorate in clinical psychology. I am looking at pursuing a nurse practitioner degree (increase my knowledge on medications and physiology as well as treat with psychotropics) but I do not want to limit my future job options. When I graduated with my BSN, I went right into psych and eventually regretted it--I got burnt out. I wished I had taken the early advice of getting some med-surg experience first (because straight psych nursing got old for me). I eventually got a little med surg type RN work experience by working on a geriatric unit that had psych patients with medical nursing needs (e.g. IVs, dressing changes, hanging blood,etc.). I enjoyed doing more medical type nursing. Anyway, I was thinking of pursuing either an Adult Nurse Practitioner degree and then getting post-graduate certification in psych.or Family Nurse Practitioner with post-graduate certification in psych. rather than going into a straight PMHNP program. That way, I will not limit myself to working in psych only. I see what the NPs do on the inpatient unit at the hospital where I work. I want to be able to work in as an NP inpatient or outpatient (maybe even E.R.) as well as do psych NP work to keep my options open. Would the FNP with post-master's certification in psych be the best?

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Hello All,

Would the FNP with post-master's certification in psych be the best?

Certainly wouldn't hurt. I'm a PMHNP with a lot of medical background. It comes in handy even on psych units when many patients have medical problems. It really comes in handy as I also do consults on all hospital units including ICU, CCU, ED, etc and I need to know what all the medical conditions are as well as their meds and how they might interact with psych meds.

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Thanks Zenman.

Spaciousness.

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Good idea. Half of my class is post-master students (FNP, Adult NP, or Geriatric NP). Do FNP first than do DNP in psych later. I think it is better this way. Unfortunately,some of them already functions as psych NP anyway because, in this state, there is no restriction on what FNP can prescribe psych meds. FNP can "legally" do PMHNP jobs. Is this the same for other states?

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Good idea. Half of my class is post-master students (FNP, Adult NP, or Geriatric NP). Do FNP first than do DNP in psych later. I think it is better this way. Unfortunately,some of them already functions as psych NP anyway because, in this state, there is no restriction on what FNP can prescribe psych meds. FNP can "legally" do PMHNP jobs. Is this the same for other states?

Nope, states are tightening up, and they should. I did a FNP pharm course and ALL drugs were covered in that one rushed course. In my Psych program you had course in neuroscience and one in psych drugs.

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Specializes in allergy and asthma, urgent care.

I completely agree with Zenman. I'm an FNP and in my previous job, we had to do a ton of psych because there were no psych providers around. The FNP program did not prepare me for this. I could deal with uncomplicated depression or anxiety, but many of my patients were much more complicated. They needed a psych-trained provider. Definitely get the psych certification.

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This is such an interesting thread. Has anyone heard of anyone going the other direction (from PMHNP to FNP)? The reason I ask is I am currently on track to become a FPMHNP, which is great. My passion is mental health, so it's a great match for me. However, I am finding myself becoming more and more fascinated with diet/obesity and the disorders that are related to it (type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, etc.) I feel that later in my career I will be interested in working in preventative care. This is an issue I am developing another passion for. I'm just wondering if anyone has heard of someone doing a post-cert in FNP? I think it would be great to have both certs and provide both kinds of services, or is this unheard of?

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Addressing the OP's initial post: As others have suggested, the FNP is usually considered a better choice vs. the ANP. The primary reason is quite simple: marketability and job security. Also suggested by someone else - get your FNP now and then go for your PMHDNP later. This will, in effect, cover all of your goals and moreover, expand your potential patient population.

Addressing comments regarding FNP's handling MH: I agree. . .specialists are needed and as we our patients advocate, we should ensure every avenue is taken in trying to get them to a specialist. But - as BCgradnurse pointed out - MH specialists are few and far between. I used to side with the 'not in the FNP's scope of practice' argument. . .until I witnessed firsthand the difference a 'regular' provider can make in someone's/a family's life by initiating treatment, scheduling follow-ups, and staying with his/her patient until a specialist is available. Again, our role is to advocate and at times advocating may equate to providing the only recourse a patient has access to - which, in many cases, is a FNP.

Anyway. . .just my two cents ;-)

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