Nursing - Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) (CPMH) - Certificate

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24 credits*

3.0 GPA required.

Students choosing the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) program are prepared with specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities to provide care across the lifespan to individuals, families, groups, and communities with behavioral and mental health problems/disorders or the potential for such problems. Clinical practicums under the supervision of qualified preceptors will focus on psychiatric-mental health care in a variety of specialty areas with a rural emphasis. The PMHNP Graduate Certificate (GC) program is for nurses who have completed a previous graduate degree in nursing from a nationally accredited graduate nursing program and desire to prepare for certification as a PMHNP. Upon completion of this graduate certificate program, graduates will be eligible to apply for certification as advanced practice nurses for medication prescribing and behavioral care. The PMHNP program prepares grads to take the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner examination.

*Clinical hours may be tailored based on prior experiences.

Admission Prerequisite

Graduation from a nationally accredited graduate program in nursing with evidence of prior completion of advanced pathophysiology, advanced health assessment (including diagnostic reasoning), advanced health promotion, and advanced pharmacology (within the last three years required in some states for credentialing) or enrollment and successful completion of these courses once admitted to Graduate Certificate Program prior to taking the specialty role courses.

Graduate Nursing Certificate Programs

Grounded in an environment of scholarship, the mission of the WSU Department of Nursing is to educate knowledgeable caring, ethical, creative, and accountable nurse leaders who provide person- and relationship-centered care for individuals, families, groups, communities and populations in a diverse society. This mission is based on the beliefs that:

a caring, diverse, and respectful community provides the best environment for students to learn how to care for themselves and others
optimal learning to care for self and others occurs in a caring, diverse and respectful community
faculty and students are accountable for maintaining and modeling professional standards of moral, ethical, and legal conduct
recognizing and valuing human diversity is essential to person- and relationship-centered care
individuals have different ways of knowing and learning about the world
creativity and innovation contribute to continuous quality improvement and sustainability
an enriched learning environment is the responsibility of faculty, staff, and students
effective nurse leaders engage in continuous professional development and lifelong learning

The Graduate Programs in Nursing offer six Graduate Certificate programs for nurses interested in post-nursing graduate education: Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner ; Adult-Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist ; Family Nurse Practitioner ; Nurse Educator ; Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner ; or Nursing and Organizational Leadership .

Required Courses (24 credits)

NURS 609 - Psychopharmacology (2 credits)
NURS 679 - Psychopathologic Disorders Across the Lifespan: Neurobiology, Psychiatric Assessment and Essential Features, and Evidence-Based Treatments (5 credits)
NURS 680 - Psychiatric-Mental Health NP Role I (3 credits)
NURS 681 - Psychiatric-Mental Health NP Role I Clinical (4 credits)
NURS 682 - Psychiatric-Mental Health NP Role II (3 credits)
NURS 683 - Psychiatric-Mental Health NP Role II Clinical (4 credits)
NURS 686 - Psychiatric-Mental Health NP Role Synthesis Seminar (1 credit)
NURS 687 - Psychiatric-Mental Health NP Role Synthesis Clinical (2 credits)

600 Clinical Practicum Hours

Clinical hours: (1 clinical credit = 60 hours of contact time)