HikingNinja

I loved the Touro DNP program. Highly recommend.

Just finished the program. Like with any other program it has its kinks but overall very good. The pace is hectic, but I learned alot. I'd recommend it to anyone thinking of obtaining their DNP. However, you will need to complete some practicum hours associated with your DNP project. Even if you have 2000 hours of clinicals as a NP they will only accept 400 ish of them (I think the number is 472 if I'm not mistaken) and you will need to do the rest for the DNP project.

Try the Telepsychiatry and Mental Health Discussion Group on Facebook. Pretty active group of over 800 members, all telepsych. Many PMHNPs.

Glad I could help.

First, how many hours do you need this Fall? My program wanted 100 hrs child, 100 hrs senior, 200 adult and 200 whatever we wanted. But these were spread over 3 semesters & we could mix age groups each semester. I got the majority of my child hours through telepsych. Alay Health Team based in Wisconsin. It's a quick 2 weeks to get licensed there. Check with your program. They may not allow telepsych or may limit the number of hours. They also take on site students if you are able to do that. Extremely flexible with schedule. Get on their website & send an email to their info@alay email address. The other 2 sites are mostly adult, some child. After approving the preceptor the school sets up of a clinical contract with the preceptors workplace. They have to check business license, liability insurance, etc. It's actually a pretty involved process. I'm uncertain as to why your program didn't give you a heads up on that part. I also recommend joining the FB group PMHNPS & More. It's a group of students & potential preceptors. Very helpful.

Did you ever find a preceptor? Do you need child hours only? Or would adult be okay? What school? I might know of a place in Nevada. Quick licensure. But at this point I don't know if you'd be able to get a clinical contract in place that quickly. Let me know.

I'm currently finishing up a PMHNP program. Expect to invest 2 - 3 years of your life. I'd go for a MSN PMHNP not the DNP. You can always get a DNP later if you want and it's not required for licensure in any state as of yet. Alot of the DNP programs are not conferring MSNs along the way so you have to wait until your DNP is complete to sit for boards. If you want opinions from students who are currently in a PMHNP program join the Facebook group PMHNP's and More . It's a FB group dedicated to PMHNP students and those looking to find a preceptor. Most PMHNP programs, even brick and mortor ones, make you find you own preceptors now and do not assist. This is far harder than it sounds.

Here's the one for Oregon. Still looking for Colorado. Oregon Secretary of State Archives Division

I truly believe you could work fulltime and complete the NP part time. ICU experience would be ideal and most places require a fulltime 2 year contract to be hired into the ICU. As a previous poster said, I would not mention you are in an NP program at time of hire. I work pretty much full time in my NP program and I know of many others in full time NP programs who work full time also.

A few things: Have you checked with local physician's groups, hospitals, etc. to see if they'll even hire you as an ACNP without RN experience? Where I'm from, ACNP's must have RN ICU/ER experience. Or they simply don't get hired. In the ER, we've hired FNP's who were med/surg first with no critical care experience. But that was unusual. It does make sense though because in the ER mostly FNP's & PAs complete the rapid medical exam and run the fast track area. Honestly, all NP programs are the same. Some are more organized than others. Rankings, IMO, mean nothing and when you graduate most employers only care if you are licensed and what experience you have. It's really the practicum experiences that teach you what you need to know. I'd thoroughly research the practicum sites they use. Maybe interview the preceptors, ask to talk NP's who have graduated from the program. If you ever plan to move or do travel assignments say after your kids are out of the house and the husband retires. You won't be able to in Oregon or Colorado. These are two states that require RN experience to grant an NP license. There may be others and this seems to be popping up now as a trend. You will have to fight tooth and nail for respect, anywhere that may hire you. In my experience, those entering the NP field without having "paid their dues" as a nurse first are treated quite poorly by other nurses. I am currently wrapping up my NP program. I am a mid career changer too. IMO my RN experience has been invaluable. In my previous career I thought I was organized and had mad critical thinking skills. You don't really know what critical thinking is until each and every decision you make could kill someone. Whole different ballgame. I am extremely thankful I spent these past 8 years in critical care.

Done. Not sure what good it will do. But it's worth a try. Just had a clinical buddy tell me her school popped up just a couple of weeks ago and told the class they decided their entire summer semester needed to be strictly therapy (its a PMHNP program). Ummmm it's April. The summer session starts in May. Luckily she had a few connections and got hers taken care of but several of her classmates are struggling to find placements because they were set up at other places for summer. This madness has got to stop. If a program decides to change the rules mid semester, they should be required to find their students clinical placements. Period.

There's a FB group called PMHNP. You can join if you are a PMHNP, student PMHNP. They have over 3000 members. They do a yearly salary survey located in their files and often offer advice on salary ranges, negotion,etc. If you submit a request to join make sure you have in your profile somewhere that you are a PMHNP student or you'll have to wait for them to contact you and ask you if you are a student or PMHNP. It's a great group. Very informative. If you look up some of my other posts you'll see I did a comprehensive list of PMHNP FB groups that was very helpful recently.

Fellow ER nurse here. Do you have a union? If so, you can bring up these issues with a union rep? Even using procedural pyxis, i've always either written the pts name & MRN # down, rolled the computer over, or sometimes simply gone back to the computer to look at the name again if I've forgotten. I'm sorry, similar names should not be an issue. It's hard to imagine this in a busy ER, but slow down. If you cannot give pain medication in All in all though, your best bet is to seek employment elsewhere. Places like this are notorious for throwing any nurse they can under the bus if a sentinel event occurs. They will whip out a policy you've never seen, and they've never even followed, to lay blame on you. Firing you at best, reporting you to the BON at worst. Get out while you still have a license.

I'm attending Gonzaga. I chose it for a variety of reasons. First - It is a second masters (I have an MSN Ed) already and wanted to be able to use federal loans. Post certs are out of pocket or private loans. Second - Good reputation and top ranked program Third - immersions every semester, it allows me to interact with other students and faculty I'm full time in the program - and I work part time. They don't help with preceptors, they provide a list of previously approved precepting sites. If you really can't find a preceptor, I think if you are willing to relocate to the campus they may be able to assist with finding one locally. They go by regular semesters, Fall, Spring, Summer. What I would recommend is to look closely at practicum requirements. Call the schools and ask them # of hours required, who can precept you (psychiatrist/PMHNP), how many years experience do they need?, how many hours required in each age group, any therapy hours required, do they allow telepsych? Get as much info as possible on practicum requirements. I've met some students from other schools whose practicum requirements are so crazy they are having a heck of a time finding preceptors. And that's an already difficult task to find a preceptor anyway. Good luck

There are very few programs out there anymore that will provide preceptors. At the time I started my program there were no PMHNP programs in my state. I chose a distance program with with a top ranked PMHNP program. Even that program would only assist with finding preceptors by providing a list of previously approved sites. If you really could not find a site they did offer to find a preceptor if you relocated to their geographic area. It's frustrating. I know. Does your school allow telepsych? That's how I'm doing my clinical hours for this semester. Look for my posts. I posted about where I'm doing my rotation and which schools they are already approved. And no, they do not charge a fee of any kind nor make you sign a post grad employment contract. I also posted some FB resources that were very valuable to me. Good luck