dmar82

There is no reason you cannot do this. You have extensive experience in mental health. The RN portion of a direct entry program will give you exposure to all the meds and you will learn about them and interactions with psychiatric medications and the risks of all the meds. You will then build upon this in the Psych NP portion of the program. Just please for all that's good choose a program that is quality over convenience or price. Sometimes you can do one that is convenience and affordable and quality, but do not just do any program. Apply for and enroll in a program that will give you a good education that has rigorous academic and clinical standards. I say this as a direct entry psych APRN myself and owner of a practice employing 7 NP's. I would hire you as a new grad if you were able to interview well and demonstrate good knowledge of pharmacology and psychopharmacology prescribing, risks, benefits, safety monitoring. What I do find a lot of non-nursing/non-medical BH degree holders think is that they only have to understand what psych meds are for what psych diagnosis. This couldn't be further from the truth. You need to know every med there is and how it interacts. You need to understand physiology and how different medical conditions may affect the psych drugs you prescribe. So just be prepared that this is not simple wrote memorization. You need to understand the mechanisms of action of all drugs and how individual medical issues or psychiatric issues may impact your prescribing. If you are prepared for that, you'll do just fine. Good luck!