Program Overview

---

Program Description

The master's program in psychiatric-mental health nursing prepares graduates to become psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNP) with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide comprehensive psychiatric-mental healthcare to children, adolescents, adults, and older adults. After successful completion of the program, graduates are eligible to take the Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Certification Exam offered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and become certified as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-BC) as well as become licensed in New York State and/or any state in the USA as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner (NP-P).

Highlights

• Opportunity to learn from experienced, nationally renowned faculty who are both academicians and practicing psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners.
• Ability to develop specialized expertise in substance use and addictive disorders, trauma disorders and trauma treatment, and individual, group, and family psychotherapy.
• Opportunity to conduct research, publish articles, speak at state and national conferences, and serve as leaders in psychiatric nursing organizations.

Goals

• To provide comprehensive and competent psychiatric-mental healthcare to clients across the lifespan.
• To develop competency in performing psychiatric evaluations, determining psychiatric diagnoses and case conceptualizations, and providing psychiatric treatments including conducting psychotherapy and prescribing psychotropic medication.
• To develop the ability to establish advanced therapeutic relationships with clients that display empathic understanding, authenticity, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard -- qualities that are the quintessence of therapeutic effectiveness.
• To develop an awareness and understanding of self and to pursue an enduring commitment to personal development and reflective practice.
• To develop a spirit of active inquiry and critical thought in the application of psychiatric-mental health knowledge.
• To appreciate human diversity and develop competency in culturally sensitive psychiatric-mental healthcare.

MS Specialty Sequences

The College of Nursing offers specialty sequences for graduate students in:

• Holistic Nursing
• Palliative Care
• Substance Use Disorders

Practicum Opportunities

• All practicum placements are arranged by the PMHNP faculty.
• Supervision is provided by licensed psychiatric clinicians at diverse practicum sites representing the full array of psychiatric-mental health treatment facilities throughout the New York metropolitan area.
  • Premier teaching hospitals (e.g., NYU Langone Health, NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, New York-Presbyterian, Four Winds Hospital, Montefiore Medical Center and Behavioral Health Centers, and the VA Medical System).
  • Select private practice offices, counseling centers, child and adolescent residential centers, substance use facilities, school systems, psychiatric emergency centers, correctional facilities, ACT teams, and community-based psychiatric clinics (e.g., Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, True Pursuit Psychological Services, NYU Counseling Center, Association to Benefit Children, MetroNP, Phoenix House, and Revcore Recovery Center).

Admissions

• One (1) transcript from each post-secondary school attended.
• Resume.
• A two- to three-page personal statement.
• At least two (2) letters of recommendation.
• RN license and registration certificate.

Eligibility

• A BS in nursing or BS/BA in a non-nursing field together with an associate’s degree in nursing
• Minimum GPA of 3.0
• NYS nursing license prior to beginning coursework
• Prior to beginning the adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner master’s program, at least one year of full-time clinical experience as a registered nurse is required.
• Must have taken a basic statistics course and a basic research course at the undergraduate level

Psychiatric-Mental Health Additional Requirements

• At least one year full-time clinical experience as a registered nurse in psychiatric nursing is required.
• One year full-time clinical experience as a registered psychiatric nurse may be substituted by other equivalent experience in the psychiatric field, psychology, or another closely related social science field subject to approval by the program director.

Program Requirements

The program requires the completion of 51 credits, comprised of the following:

• Core Courses:
  • NURSE-GN 2005: Intro Stats Health Profs (3 credits)
  • NURSE-GN 2303: Research in Nursing (3 credits)
  • NURSE-GN 2041: Issues and Trends in Nursing and Health Care (3 credits)
  • NURSE-GN 2011: Apn: Pop Focus Care (3 credits)
• Advanced Core Courses:
  • NURSE-GN 2050: Advanced Pathophysiology (3 credits)
  • NURSE-GN 2021: Clinical Pharmacotherapeutics Across the Lifespan (3 credits)
  • NURSE-GN 2012: Advanced Physical Assessment Across the Lifespan (3 credits)
• Population Component:
  • NURSE-GN 2136: Individual Psychotherapy Across the Lifespan (3 credits)
  • NURSE-GN 2147: Professional Issues/Role Development/Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (3 credits)
  • NURSE-GN 2138: Group, Couple and Family Psychotherapy Across the Lifespan (3 credits)
  • NURSE-GN 2068: Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders Across the Lifespan Theory (3 credits)
  • NURSE-GN 2137: Foundations of Psychiatric Advance Practice Nursing Across the Lifespan (3 credits)
  • NURSE-GN 2146: Advanced Psychopharmacology Across the Lifespan (3 credits)
  • NURSE-GN 2141: Adult & Geriatric Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nursing Theory (3 credits)
  • NURSE-GN 2142: Adult & Geriatric Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nursing Practicum and Supervision (3 credits)
  • NURSE-GN 2139: Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nursing Theory (3 credits)
  • NURSE-GN 2140: Child & Adol Psych Adv Pract Nrsg Pract & Sup (3 credits)

Sample Plan of Study

• 1st Semester/Term: NURSE-GN 2303 (3 credits), NURSE-GN 2005 (3 credits)
• 2nd Semester/Term: NURSE-GN 2050 (3 credits), NURSE-GN 2041 (3 credits)
• 3rd Semester/Term: NURSE-GN 2021 (3 credits), NURSE-GN 2011 (3 credits)
• 4th Semester/Term: NURSE-GN 2012 (3 credits)
• 5th Semester/Term: NURSE-GN 2136 (3 credits), NURSE-GN 2147 (3 credits)
• 6th Semester/Term: NURSE-GN 2138 (3 credits), NURSE-GN 2146 (3 credits)
• 7th Semester/Term: NURSE-GN 2137 (3 credits), NURSE-GN 2068 (3 credits)
• 8th Semester/Term: NURSE-GN 2141 (3 credits), NURSE-GN 2142 (3 credits)
• 9th Semester/Term: NURSE-GN 2139 (3 credits), NURSE-GN 2140 (3 credits)

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the program, graduates will:

1. Demonstrate critical thinking and decision-making based on a synthesis of appropriate theories and evidence from nursing and other sciences as related to the roles of nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives, and/or roles as educators, administrators, informaticists, or clinical research nurses.
2. Perform role competencies defined by national professional organizations for nurse practitioners, or nurse-midwifery roles and/or roles as educator, administrator, informaticist, or clinical research nurse.
3. Demonstrate evidence-informed decision-making related to a specific advanced practice role.
4. Advocate for universal access to quality and cost-effective healthcare for all populations across the lifespan.
5. Collaborate as members of interprofessional teams to achieve high-quality and cost-effective health outcomes.
6. Demonstrate advanced professional practice role competencies related to educational, leadership, policy, organizational, and management outcomes.
7. Demonstrate ethical decision-making in the context of personal and professional codes and guidelines.
8. Articulate a personal and professional philosophy about the Advanced Practice Nursing role that reflects patient-centered care, respect for diversity, cultural values, and a commitment to the preservation of human rights based on professional standards of practice, scope of practice, and respective professional codes of ethics.
9. Evaluate patient outcomes in relation to improving quality and patient safety.
10. Demonstrate effective written, verbal, and technological communication skills that influence the achievement of professional and health-related client outcomes in organizational, legislative, and policy settings.

Policies

NYU Policies

University-wide policies can be found on the New York University Policy pages.

College of Nursing Policies

Additional academic policies can be found on the College of Nursing academic policies page.