OHSU's PMHNP Program

[HealingThoughts]

Are there any graduates of this program around? I have educational background in psychology - but want to make the switch to RN-Psychiatry. There's a local program near me that offers an accelerated BSN - but I'd be interested in a program that had a direct PMHNP track.

I'd be interested to hear what people think of OHSU.

[mzaur]

I don't, but the reason I didn't apply to OHSU was that the first year counts as undergraduate for financial aid, so you won't be able to take out graduate loans until the second year. The loan limit for undergraduate stafford loans is 55k, so you will only be able to take out 55k minus what you already took out. I already hit my limit due to doing a post-bac degree, so I couldn't apply to OHSU, U Penn, U of Rochester, and a few others. I ended up applying to Vanderbilt, Yale, MGH, Boston College, and Seattle U for PMHNP direct entry, all of which are graduate programs for the entire duration. I ended up choosing Vanderbilt since it's the shortest program. BC is also 2 years but I had enough of the northeast :) So I suggest you take into account whether or not the program is graduate or undergraduate for the entire duration (email financial aid about that) and also how long the program is.

[PG2018]

The psychiatry focus is on psychopathology and psychopharmacology in addition to medical-oriented assessments, i.e. labs, ruling out say delirium, thyroid disorders, etc. In psychology, the treatment is for psychopathology as well, and that's supported with a lot of psychological theory, but the focus lies in psychometrics and psychotherapy models.