PMH-NP program

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I'm looking for a good online PMH-NP program. Any suggestions

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I have been looking in to this recently. Seems as though there is a shortage of MSN programs in mental health as a lot of the ones that even were present are now being changed to DNP programs. Just realistically I don't want to pursue a DNP at this time as I would like to begin working as an NP with an MSN and perhaps pursue the DNP in the future.

I am currently in the St. Louis area and am finishing up my BSN with Saint Louis University, but am not sure where I will go for my MSN. I want to do a mostly Online format without having to visit a campus unless it is local.

SLU has an MSN, but it is quite pricey- I think somewhere in the neighborhood of 40k after all is said and done since it is a private school.

I will actually soon be relocating to Arizona, but none of the schools around Phoenix have an MSN anymore for PMHNP, they are only DNP.

I am considering SLU (costly), EKU (Which seems okay, but I am confused because the program is listed as a "Rural" program and I don't really want to be pigeonholed into that subspecialty of of specialty...) Also University of South Indiana seems promising as well, but I would need to take a statistics class which isn't required for my BSN before starting. Also St. Francis University has an MSN, but I haven't been able to gather much information from the site due to some technical errors on the site, which didn't leave me with a good feeling overall.

If anyone else has any additional information on Online MSN programs for psych I am open!

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Specializes in Psych.

I'm currently in Gonzaga's PMHNP program. I would recommend it. It is rigorous and I like the instructors. It's an MSN. They only allow students from certain states but I believe AZ is one of them. I also looked at EKU and USA. Gonzaga won because they had the better reputation/ranking. The only issue I have is having to find my own preceptors, which is quite difficult at times. But many brick n mortors have you do that too now. I believe Frontier has just started a PMHNP program. They have a good reputation for their other programs.

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Specializes in Outpatient Psychiatry.

An inexpensive one offered by a public university in your state....

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I graduated on 2002 from a psych NP program and I have been practicing for 14 years (11 in solo private practice), I think the phrase "online pmh np" program is fairly oxymoronic. You can learn all you want about medications and interactions, but sitting in a classroom of your peers and getting feedback on a therapy session you did is priceless (albeit painful at times). The therapy supervisors do not pull any punches and that face-to-face brutal honesty is the beginning (it finally dawned on me in class one day) of beginning to compartmentalize yourself from the transferentially based hostile, seductive, etc things your patients will say to you EVEN IF you never plan to DO therapy. There is no way to duplicate the kind of intimate contact with faculty and your fellow students from whom you will learn so my via an online learning setting. I have done some consulting for agencies bring on their first prescriber--and while a resume with an online degree never came my way, I have to say I wouldn't hire someone with an online degree unless they had been a therapist: social worker, licensed counselor or psychologist previously. I moved 3000 miles to do my accelerated BSN TO MSN program when I was 31 (at a time when there were only 5 such accelerated programs for nurses in the country). So just don't waste your money if theres a decent chance then degree will not get you the first key job.

Good luck.

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I am in University of South Alabama they offer both masters and DNP

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