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

Hello fellow PMHNP students, I just wanted to put out there a few FB groups that have been invaluable to me. Some are career oriented, others are more clinical case consultation, some are strictly for students. But they are all specifically for PMHNPs. Just make sure if you request to join that your profile says you are a PMHNP student and where or send a message with your request or contact one of the moderators to let them know you are a PMHNP student. PMHNP – large group, over 3000 members, clinical case consults, lots of interesting info, great way to network, they also do a yearly salary survey which is extremely valuable Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner – about 1300 members, case consults, general job discussions as well as job postings Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Student Board Review – 400 + members, students discussing study materials, those who have taken the test also pop on and talk about what they found helpful PMHNP's and More Students/New Grads/Preceptors – networking site for students needing preceptors, new grads needing resources, and preceptors looking for students Hope these are helpful to some of you. I found my current preceptor (who is ridiculously wonderful) using these groups.

Not trying to start a fight. Just stating what I've observed. I have had a different experience than you most likely because we have not worked the same hospital systems. I have never worked on the east coast. All of my experience is based on the West or West Coast. I apologize for the generalized statement about the midwest, I was going on what has been related to me by colleagues who have moved to the midwest. To clarify, here are the hospital systems I've worked in that provided a differential for critical care. Washington - Peacehealth Oregon - Peacehealth CA - Sutter, Sharp NV - Valley Health, HCA, Dignity (formerly St. Rose Dominican)

Here are the systems I've worked for, or am working at now, as perm staff in Las Vegas. Valley Health, HCA, St. Roses. All of these pay med surg/tele a lower base pay than critical care. This was for perm, full or part time. So these are the only ones I can attest to. Of course most of the hospitals out here are unionized so a med/surg nurse with a certain number of years experience could definitely make more than someone who is just starting out in critical care. But if you look at the union handbooks, critical care nurses will make more than med surg/tele nurses with the same step level. Valley is not union. But they class their RNs by steps also. An RN I (med surg) gets less than an RN II (IMC, progressive care), who gets less than an RN III (critical care). This is with all other things being equal like number of years with hospital, etc. I'm not sure if there is a difference for per diem positions. If you work for a unionized hospital system, just ask your union rep for a copy of the pay grade/step system. If working for a nonunionized you can ask the HR department.

Nope. This was perm jobs. I always find out the pay scale for regular perm jobs at the hospitals I've gone to as a travel nurse. I'm currently perm staff in Nevada & those in critical care get about $5-7 / hour more than med surg/ tele nurses. I guess this isn't the case in the midwest.

If the hospital route is not working out, you could try LTC or home health agencies. Many of those hire new grads. Also I if you are interested in psych check out some of the inpatient psych facilities, like Rawson Neal, Montevista, Seven Hills, Spring Mountain. They hire new grads also.

I'm currently attending Gonzaga for my PMHNP. They did not have a problem with WGU's pass/fail format. I know of a few other students who were accepted into FNP programs at Drexel, Duke, Frontier and a couple others too. The school I am attending now is pretty pricey about $900/credit. I was able to keep my costs down for the NP by getting some of the peskier Ethics, Research, etc classes out of the way through WGU. All in all I will have paid less for my MSN ED & PMHNP than if I would have just gotten my PMHNP through Gonzaga.

I don't know of any written models out there, but I can tell you what I've seen in the ED. I'm an ER and Psych nurse. In the ER the psych patients are assigned to an ER nurse until they are medically cleared (stable). The ER nurse gets labs (BMP, CBC, TSH, urine drug, hcg, etc). Medicates as needed. If the psych pt is unstable, like an overdose, they stay under the care of the ER nurse until stable. If they have a medical condition requiring further medical monitoring (for example a PE and they need a heparin drip), they are admitted as a medical patient and go to a medical floor with a sitter and are under the care of the medical floor RN. The psych ER in the ED usually takes care of the medically cleared psych patients in a different section of the ER with security or a sitter with them at all times. The sitter or security is responsible for q15min checks and the RN is responsible for medications and also facilitating placement inpatient by faxing/calling facilities, and keeps track of when legals expire, when the patient will be be seen by the court etc.

In my geographic area, and at all the assignments I've taken as a travel nurse, the pay scale is different. ER is considered critical care and is paid more per hour, even for new grads. I've lived and traveled in Washington, Oregon, California, and Nevada.

Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years? Health, and life in general is enigmatic. You might have a serendipitous life or one frought with poor health and calamities. There's little way to tell. Just ask yourself "Is this really what I want to do with my life in 5 or 10 years?" I started my journey to a PMHNP in my 30's by obtaining my BSN, I received an MSN in Education in my early 40's and am now wrapping up in PMHNP program. I'll be mid 40's when I graduate. Bedside nursing has been challenging and rewarding, but it was never my personal original goal. It is not where I want to be. So you can only answer this for yourself. If the reason you want an NP is for greater autonomy, or you have a discovered a passion that will only be satisfied at the provider level, then go for it. If you simply want to find a career that that is less physically demanding for your later years then I would encourage you to explore alternatives. Case manager, any management position, teaching, research. Many of the older nurses I have seen are now in PACU or surgical centers, community health, home health, etc.

I'm currently in a PMHNP program and these are my go to's. Also I have a wonderful preceptor (which helps immensely). The pharm book is like $10 and extremely helpful. The diff dx book has all the decision trees and is a life saver also. And hey, if your school allows you to do telepsych my preceptor is telepsych and is accepting students for summer and fall. From any state and any school. They already have like 10 schools they have clinical contracts with. Just sayin. Memorable psychopharmacology you tube videos - I'm sure you know these well by now Psychopharmacology made ridiculously simple book DSM 5 Handbook of Differential Diagnosis by Michael First