Psychiatric (Family) Nurse Practitioner

Psychiatric (Family) Nurse Practitioners provide psychiatric services to children, adolescents, adults as well as mature adults experiencing a continuum of psychiatric illnesses.

Program Information

This program prepares students to provide comprehensive psychiatric mental health care to those who are symptomatic in need of psychiatric services. Care continuum sites for Psychiatric (Family) Nurse Practitioner practice includes ambulatory care settings, acute care, long-term care, and community health facilities.

Clinical Orientation

All students enrolled in the first specialty course (CMN 548) are required to attend a mandatory three-day clinical orientation on campus during that fall term. Various clinical skills workshops will be held during the orientation.

for those students beginning the specialty course CMN 548 in the fall semester of 2018. Each event will take place at USA College of Nursing. You will receive more information as the date approaches via your JAG e-mail. Please make plans to attend.

Our program is a Psychiatric (Family) Nurse Practitioner Program. Students who enroll in to this program must be prepared to work with children, adolescents, and adults to ensure that they are proficiently trained to administer psychiatric care to all ages, genders, and cultures. The completion of this program allows for the students to be eligible to take the Family Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) certification exam only.

Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Curriculum

BSN-MSN students complete all support, MSN core, and MSN specialty courses for a total of 45 credit hours.  The MSN degree must be completed within five years of matriculation.

Support Courses

NU 518 - Advanced Nursing Assessment 3 credits

NU 545 - Physio-pathological Basis of Advanced Nursing 3 credits

NU 578 - Pharmacology for Advanced Practice Nurses 3 credits

MSN Core Courses

NU 607 - Scientific Underpinnings of Advanced Nursing Practice 3 credits

NU 608 - Evidence-Based Practice and Quality Improvement in Health Care 3 credits

NU 610 - Healthcare Policy and Finance 3 credits

NU 613 - Organizational & Systems Leadership 3 credits

Psychiatric Family NP Specialty Courses

CMN 548 - Intro to Family Psych NP 3 credits

CMN 551 - Health Promotion/Disease Prevention & Issues for Family Psych NP 2 credits

CMN 552 - Family Psych NP I 3 credits

CMN 553 - Family Psych NP Practicum I - 180 Clinical Hours 3 credits

CMN 554 - Family Psych NP II 3 credits

CMN 555 - Family Psych NP Practicum II - 180 Clinical Hours 3 credits

CMN 556 - Family Psych NP Practicum III - 240 Clinical Hours 4 credits

CMN 557 - Family Psych NP III 3 credits

RN to MSN students who are registered nurses with a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in a non-nursing discipline must also complete the following courses.

RN-MSN Courses

CMN 411 - Nursing in Community Systems 4 credits

NU 404 - Evidence Based Practice & Informatics 3 credits

NU 410 - Concepts of Professional Nursing 6 credits

NU 425 – Health Assessment Across the Lifespan 3 credits

OR

NU 530 – Accelerated MSN Advanced Health Assessment 4 credits

Contacts

Please feel free to contact Dr. Melanie Varnado for more information about this specialty: mvarnado@southalabama.edu.