I am a BSN graduate and was thinking of becoming a psych NP. The school I went to for my BSN (Cal State San Marcos) offers two different programs for MSN...Advance Practice Nursing and Post Masters Certification. The hospital I work for (Kaiser) pays 100% for MSN degrees from Capella or Colorado Technical University however the specialty would be Nursing Administration, Nursing Education, Care Coordination, or Nursing Informatics. I'm curious if it may be beneficial for me to do the MSN through Capella or CTU and have it paid for 100% then do the post masters certification in Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner at Cal State San Marcos? Or should I just do the Advance Practice Nursing route with a concentration on PMHNP from the start? Obviously the cost would be about 2x as much going that route and it wouldn't be paid for by my employer.
Curious if there are pros/cons to getting the post masters certificate after getting a non NP MSN?