PMHNP/PSYCH NP

ARND · Aug 19, 2019

Psychwhisper,

Yes hating. Hating on the idea that someone can do exactly what you’re doing and you’re not special in that regard (they can even be better, oh my!!)You obviously took personal what I stated to Success2011, nothing was specifically directed to you, so there must be some personal feelings behind this. I’m sure this has nothing to do with me. Why don’t you just continue to direct your response to the OP. Whether you felt it was a personal attack or not, doesn’t matter. It wasn’t encouraging and you are not the gatekeeper of the specialty! If s/he spends thousands of dollars on a degree and finds they don’t like it, WHAT IS IT TO YOU?! Lastly, I don’t care about your professional accolades (ANYONE can get a doctorate in nursing) and they’re not “your patients” they’re human beings that unfortunately are at the mercy of other human beings that may or may not be qualified to SERVE them. Whoever thinks they have any authority over another person is just spiritually ignorant and frankly naive. Please don’t respond back to me. Direct response ms to the OP. Thanks!

verene, MSN · Aug 19, 2019

On 8/15/2019 at 6:55 PM, Success2011 said:
Thanks for your reply Verene. The fact that a large part of my nursing experience has been involved with care coordination, teaching , advocacy , and prevention, coupled with a masters degree in social work. I think this will be a great fit.

It sounds like you have a solid background of experience, and will likely be a good fit for this field! I personally am drawn to inpatient work - all of my work in mental health has been with primarily SMI population, and I love being a part of an interdisciplinary team. I found during my clinical rotations that it was much easier for me to "leave work at work" when completing my inpatient clinicals, which I think is important for my work/life balance and stress load.

I have an interest in forensic psych due to a prior career in the legal field and my interest in treating individuals with psychotic & personality disorders. I have some experience working with the GEI population as a RN and will start a forensic psych NP fellowship next month. ?

I do recommend researching programs before you begin - not all are created equal. Some find clinical placements, others do not, or only offer very limited support. Some are online, some are hybrid, and some are in-person. Ask about where students get placed for clinicals and what kinds of jobs they often end up in for first positions. Find a program that is well respected in your local community (or community where you would like to practice) as this will help in securing clinicals and employment.

In terms of specialization/population - I told myself to stay open to experiences during school - I was really looking at dual-diagnosis/adult when I entered the program, and I still have a lot of interest there, but I found that there were other areas I enjoyed and was interested in along the way - one of the beautiful things about this field is that there are so many different areas of the mental health system to work in!

Success2011 · Aug 19, 2019

12 minutes ago, verene said:
It sounds like you have a solid background of experience, and will likely be a good fit for this field! I personally am drawn to inpatient work - all of my work in mental health has been with primarily SMI population, and I love being a part of an interdisciplinary team. I found during my clinical rotations that it was much easier for me to "leave work at work" when completing my inpatient clinicals, which I think is important for my work/life balance and stress load.
I have an interest in forensic psych due to a prior career in the legal field and my interest in treating individuals with psychotic & personality disorders. I have some experience working with the GEI population as a RN and will start a forensic psych NP fellowship next month. ?
I do recommend researching programs before you begin - not all are created equal. Some find clinical placements, others do not, or only offer very limited support. Some are online, some are hybrid, and some are in-person. Ask about where students get placed for clinicals and what kinds of jobs they often end up in for first positions. Find a program that is well respected in your local community (or community where you would like to practice) as this will help in securing clinicals and employment.
In terms of specialization/population - I told myself to stay open to experiences during school - I was really looking at dual-diagnosis/adult when I entered the program, and I still have a lot of interest there, but I found that there were other areas I enjoyed and was interested in along the way - one of the beautiful things about this field is that there are so many different areas of the mental health system to work in!

Thanks!!

lmcmillan · Aug 21, 2019

I wonder if anyone can give me any advice on nurse practitioner psych programs specifically Regis versus Walden? Or if anyone has any experience with other good programs that would be awesome. Thank you.

bryanleo9 · Aug 24, 2019

On 8/17/2019 at 8:26 PM, Success2011 said:
Bryanleo, you make this sound terrifying, this sounds more like inpatient psych to me, aren't there several areas you can work in , eating disorders, geriatric, nursing homes, forensics ?.

I am referring to inpatient and forensics. Outpatient psych patients can easily become acutely ill d/t medication non-compliance which is a huge issue. No matter the setting, the people wanting to complete at psychiatric NP certificate need real psych experience.

We have had ER nurses post here stating they are in psych NP programs. When it's suggested they get psych experience they state they have plenty in ER. Reading off a printed ER mental health screening questionnaire is not psych experience.

Their future patients deserve better. Good luck my post was not to discourage but to keep it real.

ThePsychWhisperer, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Aug 24, 2019

2 hours ago, bryanleo9 said:
I am referring to inpatient and forensics. Outpatient psych patients can easily become acutely ill d/t medication non-compliance which is a huge issue. No matter the setting, the people wanting to complete at psychiatric NP certificate need real psych experience.
We have had ER nurses post here stating they are in psych NP programs. When it's suggested they get psych experience they state they have plenty in ER. Reading off a printed ER mental health screening questionnaire is not psych experience.
Their future patients deserve better. Good luck my post was not to discourage but to keep it real.

Thank you! Apparently when I make make suggestions like this, I'm hating.

ARND · Aug 25, 2019

On 8/21/2019 at 5:10 PM, lmcmillan said:
I wonder if anyone can give me any advice on nurse practitioner psych programs specifically Regis versus Walden? Or if anyone has any experience with other good programs that would be awesome. Thank you.

I have two former coworkers at Walden. Both are BSNs with years of inpatient psych experience. One is further along in the program and is beginning clinical rotations. Compared to my program, the type of practitioners they are allowed to shadow are more limited. For instance the first clinical course focuses on therapies for individuals, second course group therapies, and last course family therapy and acute care in my program. In my program, we can choose any practitioner for any length of time I.e. NP, MD, LSW, LCSW etc. for Walden’s Program, she can only use certain practitioners for a certain number of clinical rotations. So if she chooses a NP, she can only have them to shadow with twice. It’s very difficult for some people to find preceptors and it was for her. So if yo are unable to find a specific type of practitioner for a specific rotation that makes things difficult. I knew that this was something I wanted to do for sometime so I had things set up. Another difference was one of the clinical courses: Advanced health assessment was a non clinical course for her whereas I had 75 hours to do. Other than that, we both only had one psychopharmacology course but hers was 10 weeks and mine 4. I had a diagnostic reasoning course and she did not but she said it was incorporated in her pharm. Overall I see no differences in what we’re learning or how we’re being prepared. Hope that helps.

lmcmillan · Aug 25, 2019

Thank you SO MUCH that was incredibly helpful!!!

Oldmahubbard · Aug 25, 2019

Without extensive psychiatric experience, you won't know that most of what patients tell you is not objectively true.

And good luck to you.

Nurse-Bell · Aug 29, 2019

I agree with whoever encouraged that you get some experience first. That's not hating. Maybe see if you'll like this side of nursing first. Your likely going to be seeing the same "inpatient" patients on the outpatient side -- hospitals can't keep everybody hospitalized that's why they get released and you WILL see some of these volatile patients in the outpatient programs aka partial hospitalization programs. Just because your not working the floor doesn't mean you won't encounter them...you can't escape them. Psych is no joke and a lot of people enter the psych NP program because all they are thinking about is the money....let's be real here. But with that money comes some serious work and you must know what your doing. Do you want someone who is ill-prepared and lacks experience or real knowledge practicing on you? Besides you are often dealing with very fragile and volatile individuals, some times at their weakest points in life. A lot of schools are just letting anyone in and honestly they do get sifted out no matter if they finish....I think many pretenders do because the question later becomes can you actually handle the job. For those people time will tell when they get out there on their own. So many people are entering the field without any skill or experience whatsoever and I think it is a specialty that should be reserved for those with experience working as a psych nurse first.

It is sad this field has succumbed to a bunch of people with no true desire attempting to enter it solely for financial gain and thinking all you'll do is sit behind a desk and adjust medications and write scripts.... but no compassion to truly make a difference.

I think it is a great field if you really have true intentions on doing it because you have a passion for it.

LLC215, BSN, RN · Aug 29, 2019

I strongly believe anyone that is interested in being a PMHNP work some inpatient psych.

CTtoRN, ADN, BSN, RN · Oct 12, 2019

Working inpatient with the REALLY sick patients will give you an appreciation for the "normal" psych patient, e.g. depression, anxiety, bipolar. I had a guy partially cut his toe off because he used to hurt animals (losing a toe was his "punishment"), had aggressive/violent patients, meth'ed out patients who needed 5 point restraints and a B'52 cocktail, seen patients react badly to medication (neuroleptic malignant syndrome), extreme thought disorder patients, detox patients, cutters, pedophiles, poop eaters, poop artists (finger paint). The personality disorders...I hate borderline patients. Luckily, when you are a psych np you can decide what population you want to work with (most times) usually outpatient...4 patients an hour, new patients 30 min to 90 minutes eval. Just found out a nursing supervisor switched to psych for the money instead of acute care np in college. Don't do it for the money. This population can be overbearing and burn you out quick if your heart isn't in it. So, just understand that the biggest take away for me having psych experience is 1) eval medication effects...are they working?, 2) observe various psych conditions, 3) learning when I'm being manipulated & when patients are malingering. I worked with a great older psych nurse for awhile. Physical violence: worked with a nurse who was beaten so badly in the head she has a crossed eye now. Just read about a psych np who was stabbed multiple times before she could get out of her car...at her office. He was waiting for her! Yikes!