Moving to Charlottesville...

Congrats on your move to Charlottesville. I would recommend looking at our Direct Entry MSN program at the University for when you are done with the Post-Doc. There are a few prerequisite classes that you can complete at the local community college.

There is not an accelerated BSN program in Charlottesville; the nearest one is in Richmond. The other program in Charlottesville is an associate degree to RN program.

If you are looking for a NP certification, please keep in mind that the entry into advanced practice is in the process of changing (from MSN to a doctor of nursing practice). This change is supposed to be done by 2015. You may need to pursue a second doctoral degree (5 years of study from entry into nursing to doctoral) if you want to write 'scripts.

Thanks for the reply!

I saw the UVA direct-entry masters, but that appears to lead to a nurse leader (not sure if that would help with becoming an NP, specifically a PMHNP)

I was unaware of the change for NPs by 2015. Do already established NP's get grandfathered? That would certainly motivate me to get the NP done faster... :)

I had heard this also, about NPs being educated at the doctoral level in the future. I suspect the existing NPs are "grandfathered".

There are several different factors associates here with the 'grand-fathering'. The degree (BSN, MSN, DNP, PHD, etc) is never grand-fathered. You need to earn the academic degree.

The NP licensure is awarded by the State Boards of Nursing. In general, once you have passed the certification test and keep up with the annual CE (and other) requirements, your license as a NP will likely remain valid. When NPs started in Virginia in the early 70s, the first NP certifications only required a minumum of an Associate's Degree. This was then changed to a BSN minimum in the late 70s. There are still NPs practicing with only a BSN degree in Virginia. However, the scope of practice for the BSN-prepared and the MSN-prepared are different. Following this train of logic, it is possible that at some point in the future the State Boards of Nursing may sponsor legislation for different scopes of practice between a MSN- and a DNP-prepared individual.