Psych nursing

[burger914]

I may be getting a little ahead of myself here, ( I take my boards on Wednesday), but I was wondering about getting certifcation in substance abuse. I recently went for a job at a Psych Hospital and the interviewer said there was an increase in the pay level if I had any certifications. I live in Rhode Island and was wondering if anyone knew of schools in my area that have certification programs. I have looked around on the web, but didn't have much luck. Any info would be great!

[MollyJ]

Hi Burger,

There is a cert available for substance abuse nursing and it's name completely eludes me at present, but you can go to the website for the International Nurses Society on Addictions http://www.nnsa.org to get information about certification, however you have to have 2 years of (fulltime) practice before you can sit for it. I am an experienced nurse working in prevention and am just trying to accrue some time before I take the test. The time is good because what they are saying is that it takes time to learn about the speciality and not all the information is available in a book.

Good luck.