Program Overview

Master of Science in Nursing - Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner

Program Overview

This flexible online psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner degree equips you with an in-demand skill set and provides individualized attention from caring, expert faculty. Curriculum integrates psychopathology, health policy, advanced health assessment, and clinical pharmacology. By building on your foundation of evidence-based practice and completing 500 clinical hours, you will graduate ready to work with increased autonomy as a mental health nurse practitioner.

Learning Outcomes

• Integrate advanced knowledge in nursing, related science, and leadership skills that will emphasize ethical and critical decision-making to promote safe, high quality, cost effective, and culturally appropriate care across diverse settings
• Incorporate evidence-based research to resolve practice problems and improve knowledge
• Apply patient-care technology, such as informatics, to enhance patient care using a collaborative approach
• Construct processes for self-accountability of professional growth, adopt lifelong learning, and practice safely and effectively within your chosen specialty to maintain health and improve patient outcomes
• Establish an environment of advanced practice that is conducive to the development of effective interactions with patients and other entities in communities
• Advocate for policies that lead to improved health outcomes for populations and improvement of the quality of the health care system at the local, regional, state, national, and global levels
• Demonstrate competence in the communication, collaboration, and consultation to advance interprofessional teams
• Integrate clinical prevention and health promotion strategies to maintain optimal health and improve patient health outcomes
• Apply advanced knowledge gained from nursing and other related sciences to practice as a competent health care provider

Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Careers

• Correctional Facilities
  • Behavioral Health Programs
  • Residential Substance Abuse Shelters
  • Outpatient Clinics
  • Detox Centers
  • Schools
  • Mental Health Agencies
  • Hospitals
  • Private Practice

Tuition

• Total Tuition: $32,550*
• Duration: As few as 18 months
• Credit Hours: 50

Accreditation

The baccalaureate degree, master's degree, Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, and post-graduate certificate programs in nursing at St. Thomas University are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, 655 K Street NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20001.

Admission Requirements

• Completed free application
• Bachelor’s degree in nursing from an accredited nursing school
• Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions (Unofficial transcripts are accepted)
• 3.0 or higher GPA
• Active and unencumbered Florida or Georgia nursing license
• Residency in Florida or Georgia for clinicals

Courses

Core Courses

• NUR 512: Role to Transition to Advanced Practice Nursing
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 3
  • Learning Outcomes:
    • Articulate marketing and negotiating strategies to promote acceptance of the advance practice nurse within the practice management system.
    • Investigate ethical issues and the cope of practice that governs the advanced practice nurse in Florida and/or other states.
    • Evaluate the interprofessional collaborative healthcare team function of the Advanced Practice Nurse.
• NUR 501: Philosophical & Theoretical Basis of Nursing
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 3
  • Learning Outcomes:
    • Critique and assess theories and conceptual models from nursing and related fields.
    • Provide high-quality care to clients using the appropriate theories from the field of nursing.
    • Effectively implement the principles of research and evidence-based practice.
    • Understand the application of both classic and modern literature on development and implementation of Middle Range Theory and evidence-based practice (EBP).
    • Critically appraise research study and articulate findings.
• NUR 502: Advanced Pathophysiology
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 3
  • Learning Outcomes:
    • Compare physiological and psychologies changes over the lifespan.
    • Evaluate physiologic responses to illness and treatment modalities.
    • Incorporate and implement evidence-based knowledge regarding changes in selected disease states.
• NUR 504: Advanced Health Assessment & Differential Diagnosis
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 3
  • Learning Outcomes:
    • Synthesize the roles of the professional nurse in conducting a health history on a variety of patients across the lifespan.
    • Distinguish normal and abnormal health and physical assessment findings between normal and abnormal variations associated with ethnic/racial origins, socioeconomic status, cultural/spiritual beliefs, gender, and age.
    • Utilize special assessments and techniques to certain populations such as obstetric, pediatric, and the elderly population.
    • Evaluate health/illness beliefs, culture, values, attitudes, behavior, and lifestyle to collaboratively plan with the patient to promote ideal health.
    • Assess evidence-based care for promoting wellness, health promotion, and disease prevention for individuals, families, groups, communities, and diverse populations across the lifespan in a variety of healthcare environments.
• NUR 505: Diversity in Advanced Health Practice
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 3
  • Learning Outcomes:
    • Employ culturally competent care practices for self, individuals, and families.
    • Describe conceptual models and theories of cultural diversity and analyze the cultural patterns and behaviors of cultural values of diverse populations.
• NUR 506: Influencing Health Policy
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 3
  • Learning Outcomes:
    • Critically appraise health policies proposals and policies that encompass ethics, global health, health care disparities, uninsured, under-insured, complex health care financing issues, and the health care reform (Affordable Care Act).
    • Analyze and discuss health services research, evidence-based practice policy and politics for implementation at the institutional, local, state, and federal level.
    • Articulate social justice, health equity, and new policy issues to improve care delivery, patient outcomes, and the profession of nursing.
    • Utilize leadership skills when developing and implementing policies in the workplace, government, professional organizations, and the community.
• NUR 600: Advanced Clinical Pharmacology
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 3
  • Learning Outcomes:
    • Differentiate the pharmacological actions of medications used to treat common diseases.
    • Create individualized pharmacotherapy plans based on patient-specific conditions.
    • Explain the relationship between pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of broad categories of drugs across the lifespan.

Specialization Courses

• NUR 520: Psychopharmacology
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 3
  • Learning Outcomes:
    • Explain the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the major classes of psychopharmacological agents commonly used in the treatment of various psychiatric disorders.
    • Assess current evidence related to efficacy, prescribing patterns, side effects, drug interactions, cost effectiveness, chemical dependence, gender and genetic issues, and new classes of psychopharmacological agents.
    • Employ evidence-based research and practice findings to develop effective prescribing patterns that include initiating, dosing, discontinuing, combining, and switching medications.
    • Develop relevant client education strategies in relation to health promotion, side-effect management, and prevention of relapse.
    • Develop and assess plans for care for clients undergoing psychopharmacotherapy that include identifying nursing interventions, monitoring activities, and expected outcomes of care.
• NUR 530: Psychopathology
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 3
  • Learning Outcomes:
    • Articulate the etiological theories, the diagnostic process and nomenclature of psychiatric disorders.
    • Create contemporary treatment approaches for common psychiatric disorders.
    • Discern between different major categories of psychiatric disorders.
• NUR 620: Psychiatric Management I
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 3
  • Learning Outcomes:
    • Employ evidence-based clinical practice guidelines to manage screening activities and identify health promotion needs on clients with mental health issues.
    • Provide guidance and counseling on environmental, lifestyle, and developmental issues for clients with mental health issues.
    • Build collaborative, interdisciplinary relationships to provide optimal care to patients with mental health diseases in a way that is appropriate for their age and culture.
    • Manage patients with mental and psychiatric disorders.
    • Use the Diagnostic Statistical Manual as a tool for assessment and diagnosis of mental illnesses and to better understand a client's potential needs.
• NUR 620CL: Psychiatric Management I (Clinical)
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 2
• NUR 630: Psychiatric Management II
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 3
  • Learning Outcomes:
    • Evaluate the appropriateness of clinical modalities for individuals with specific mental illnesses.
    • Examine current research findings of clinical modalities used in treating individuals with mental illnesses.
    • Provide individual therapies that promote mental health for individuals and families across their lifespan.
    • Understand clinical modalities used in health promotion and treatment of individuals with mental illness across their lifespan.
• NUR 630CL: Psychiatric Management II (Clinical)
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 2
• NUR 640: Psychiatric Management III
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 3
  • Learning Outcomes:
    • Provide individual and group therapies to promote mental health for individuals and families across the lifespan.
    • Incorporate assessment findings and differential diagnoses to pinpoint and prioritize treatment of acute and chronic psychiatric disorders.
    • Provide culturally informed mental health care in populations across the lifespan with complex acute and chronic psychiatric disorders.
    • Demonstrate beginning skills of providing quality mental health care.
    • Conduct self-evaluation of clinical practice experiences and foster professional growth.
• NUR 640CL: Psychiatric Management III (Clinical)
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 2
• NUR 650: Psychiatric Management IV
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 3
  • Learning Outcomes:
    • Determine individual and group therapies to encourage mental health for individuals and families across the lifespan.
    • Use assessment findings and differential diagnoses to identify and prioritize treatment of acute and chronic psychiatric disorders.
    • Provide culturally informed mental health care to populations across the lifespan with complex acute and chronic psychiatric disorders.
    • Cultivate professional growth and advanced practice nursing role development through critical self-evaluation of clinical practice experiences.
    • Collaborate with other health care professionals and community providers.
• NUR 650CL: Psychiatric Management IV (Clinical)
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 2
• NUR 670: Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Integration Practicum
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Credit Hours: 3
  • Learning Outcomes:
    • Analyze current and relevant research on professional mental health nursing practice.
    • Construct an evidence-based research problem regarding advanced nursing practice.
    • Assess health outcomes to identify the effectiveness of treatment, need for changes, and health status of the client.