SCSTxRN

I am a PMHNP- I wish there had been more Psych CNS style skills in my education, and I still work to bone up my therapy competency, as well as trying to improve my psychopharmacology knowledge. I'd do a DNP in either one, but only one of those.

I have met a few people who were admitted to UTA's online np program. I know no one personally who successfully completed it. I can not recommend it, but I'm sure there are others who do.

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Forget getting in trouble with school... In Texas academic dishonesty can get you in trouble with BON. I don't think a co-worker would approach me like this, but if they did I'd have to tell them in writing that what they are doing is academic dishonesty and fraud and if they continue to attempt to involve me in it I'm going to have to forward that to university and BON.

1. Enough to be confident in your physical assessment skills, because psychiatric patients don't always give good histories. You also need a good, broad understanding of meds because ours are dangerous and don't play well with others. You need enough nursing experience to help differentiate when psych is manifesting as physical, and when your psych symptoms are symptoms of a physical illness. How long that takes varies by nurse and clinical setting. 2. Um, yes. Because if you do not LOVE psych, this job will make you crazy. Pun intended. I'm a much better pmhnp because I was a psych nurse first. Made pmhnp school easier as well.

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It might behoove her to get her CNA at 16, but I believe that is the minimum age for that program. She may find that nursing isn't exactly what she thought it would be, and she has plenty of time to look at other fields that are just as academically challenging. Otherwise, as many others have suggested - working towards a bachelor's in science - chemistry, biology, or the likes, is likely to help her most in terms of fulfilling academic requirements and maintaining personal growth. One other caveat - you can only get financial aid in the form of grants or subsidized loans for a higher degree; so once you have an associate's degree, you can't get that type of financial aid for another associate's degree.. same for bachelor's and master's. I'm not sure if this is a consideration for your family or not, but it is something of which to be aware.

Given the option, I'd have gotten both - PA and PMHNP - because I feel the PA training is much more rigorous, med school based, and would have given me more equal footing in some conversations specifically related to pathophysiology and pharmacology... but I've done independent study to get most of the same information. I'd also have enjoyed the more generalist base. Having had to choose, I'm a nurse practitioner and proud to be one.

I am a PMHNP. I work in a forensic state hospital. The people I work with are not categorized as victims in the crimes that brought them here, but they have frequently been victims prior to becoming perpetrators.

A. Because I wanted to be a nurse practitioner; and I wake up every morning excited to come to work. I tried to get all of my kids to do it, my older 2 went to CNA school and decided nursing is *NOT* their passion. They are happy in their chosen fields, and I am happy for them. B. No - some people know what they want to do, some don't... but if you are doing it for anything other than passion for the profession and the fact you can't imagine *NOT* doing it - nursing is not for you. C. ABSOLUTELY NOT. And you didn't ask - but I'm going to add a D. Pursue your passion. Being miserable in your job, whatever it is, is not worth it. The pressure and stress you are putting on yourself sounds like it is pushing you toward depression.

I finished the RN-BSN in 2013, and my MSN-PMHNP in 2015. Both at UTA.

This - totally. I think the OP's statement was borne, originally, out of a recognition of the difference between kinesthetic learners and auditory/visual learners - in school, on the tests, it's the ability to 'learn' by seeing/reading/hearing... in clinical, it's the ability to learn by doing. So people who may never test well, because the seeing/reading/hearing pathways are more difficult for them to use, may pick up kinesthetic - procedure stuff on the first try... whereas some of the people for whom the books come easy struggle with the procedural stuff... and some people it just all seems to come easy for, but they struggle with social interaction or emotional intelligence. I know I, personally, never struggled with book stuff and rarely struggled with procedural stuff - but it took me 10 years to get anything that resembled good at politics or reading a social situation. I think if I, personally, had been a nurse at 20 - I'd have quit or been run off with pitchforks, because the combination of everything coming easy to me and not knowing why everything didn't come easy to everyone else along with my general social obtuseness would have made me absolutely insufferable.

Flip a coin, heads means RN, Tails means take the NP job for low pay. If what you get gives you a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, go the other way.

I'd probably be looking for another job - and once I had the offer in hand, submit my concerns to the DON - politely - in writing, along with my two week notice.

In Texas, we do have to have a supervising physician in order to prescribe, but not to practice 'advanced nursing'... but there is no distinct supervisory quantity requirements. New NPs and MDs have to face to face monthly, the requirements decrease with experience, and an MD can supervise FTE of 7 NPs or PAs. Assuming the prescriptive authority agreement is in place, we can RX schedule 3-5. Not sure about DME and home health, as I'm psych.

As part of my coursework in the last semester, we had to calculate what we would ask for in salary... it was average income (based on codes or RVUs) - overhead, - doctor's fee for 'supervision & training', - benefits = salary. I calculated 110-130; I was offered and accepted 115k, with full benefits.

I, too, am a new grad. I'd counter offer - three days of shadowing followed by a six week agreement with an opt out for either party at the end. If I really wanted to work there and had had difficulty finding a position. Otherwise - no.

No; UTA offers an online FNP program that does not seem to be well liked by many (any?) of the students in it. Their PMHNP program is hybrid; there were semesters that I went to campus one to two times a week and semesters that I went one or two times a semester.

I'd recommend doing an ADN-BSN (I completed UTA's online RN-BSN in less than a year because of credits from previous degrees - also a career changer). The bridge programs cost more money and take more time than that BSN did for me, and it was an instant (small) raise at work. If you enjoyed teaching, I'd look at some of the adjunct online jobs and strongly consider an MSN-Education.

I am also in Texas, and I pretty much went into nursing to become a PMHNP. Well - in truth, I planned to do FNP and be a nurse injector, but my first psych rotation in nursing school hooked me like a large mouth bass. Psych was coming home for me. That said - I taught school several years and decided I needed to be a nurse. I did a plain old ADN program (2 years, given my prereqs were already met - $8,000 total tuition and books graduated May 2010). Then I did my BSN online through UT Arlington (1 year, another 8K) while working full time as a nurse (50k - I have kids, and I'm not into overtime) graduated August 2012. Then I went into UTA's PMHNP program, which I hope to graduate August 2015. I have had several soft job offers pending graduation and boards. I don't think you'd have trouble getting hired DE. I do think that my nursing experience - both in general med (chest pain, blood pressure, wounds, and family stuff) and in psych - have helped me assimilate my graduate level education and help me in daily practice in clinical. The sum total of my PMHNP education has added up to 85k in student loans. I wanted to ask, though - if you've got federal student loans for that MS degree and you make income based repayments for 120 consecutive months working public service... you should be eligible for forgiveness. And when you go into nursing, the loans you have for your MS (biology) are not eligible for forgiveness or repayment under the nursing loan repayment programs.

My kids were vaccinated late. They are homeschooled. We didn't go to Disney. My pdd kid did not get mmr till he was walking and talking. Tdap is the only one that seemed to set him back a few months. My distrust of the perfect safety and effectiveness of vaccines has to do with that waiver I have to sign and the federal protections in place for the vaccine manufacturers, including the fact that the cdc contracts to pay for leftover flu vaccine and then encourages people to get the shot. That would be considered conflict of interest if they were a person instead of a government / corporate entity.

Have you thought about doing a physical therapy assistant program? Based on what you're saying, nursing is really not for you... after 3 years of school, you have another 2 or 3 years at least until you are marginally competent at taking what you have learned as a nurse and applying it naturopathically. If palliative care is something you're into, Hospice nursing might be a good fit - but based on what you're describing, I'd hate to see you put a lot of time and money into something that ends up being soul sucking for you.

You can also apply for a 6 month deferment if you're not yet employed, or the income based repayment program if you're employed but poor.

UTArlington's PMHNP is not online. They do have an online FNP program through the academic partnership people.. and I haven't talked to a single person who is really happy with the quality of instruction they are receiving. I love UTA, but I would not recommend them for an online NP at this time.. and in my own educational experience, the in class meetings have been where I picked up the bulk of instruction, including hands on. Preceptors are not falling all over themselves to teach a student the basics, they hardly have time to help us take the basics to the office level.

I am going to sound so negative - it is not my intent - and I promise to answer something to your question at the end. If you have a 3.1 now, unless you've already got bioethics and organic chemistry under your belt, a 4.0 isn't going to be likely. If you've been working as hard as you can for that 3.1, it's less so.. Nursing classes are, for most people, harder than regular undergrad classes. Competitive MSN programs are looking 3.7 and higher, plus experience, plus PASSION for the field. I think if your dream is to sign, M.D. after your name - CNM is never going to cut it for you. If your goal is to support women through healthy pregnancies and catch babies.. then M.D. might not have been your thing. A large family is a HUGE commitment. Delivering babies is a time suck. You need to seriously consider how you're going to deal when your 6 month old is crying with a low grade temp and your mom is delivering and you have to GO. 15 years ago, I had just finished premed and been accepted into one of my top choices for MD, and I kind of lost my mind. Had I known then that NP was a thing - even a possibility... I never EVER would have chosen ANYTHING except NP. I'm almost done with school now (not CNM - my kids are too demanding for me to deal with pregnant women).. and I can't imagine being satisfied doing anything else.