Psychiatric-Mental Health Advanced Practice Program (NP/CNS)
Program
Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Master's
Sub-Plans
- Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (NP)
- Psychiatric-Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)
Program Focus
Education
The education and clinical preparation of Psychiatric- Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (NP) and Psychiatric-Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) emerges from a theory/practice base necessary to help clients achieve the highest possible level of well-being throughout their lives. This process begins with a solid foundation in the biological and social sciences necessary to differentiate various aspects of the patient’s functioning and to make appropriate judgments and decisions about interventions, referral, or consultation with other clinicians in the provision of advanced primary care mental health services. Coursework includes advanced physiology and pathophysiology, advanced pharmacology, and advanced health assessment. The curriculum then builds to include coursework in advanced psychiatric assessment and advanced psychotherapeutic interventions, including pharmacological and nonpharmacological approaches. Clinical experience begins after a solid initial foundation in the sciences and psychiatric assessment are achieved and is integrated throughout the program. Three clinical experiences are provided to allow for both variety and intensity of experience. Ultimately, the PMH Advanced Nursing Program prepares master clinicians in the delivery of psychiatric-mental health nursing care in both contemporary and future contexts.
Practice
The Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMH-NP) and Psychiatric-Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist (PMH-CNS) roles are designed to address the increasing complexity and fragmentation that currently defines the delivery of care to persons with acute or chronic psychiatric illness. Clinical practice skills in advanced assessment; diagnostic reasoning and decision making; pharmacotherapy; and individual, family, and group psychotherapies are developed in a wide range of settings to encourage development of both depth and breadth in role appropriate competencies. Clinical experience with case, hospital system, and community consultation as well as prevention program development are possible. Preparation for the certification examinations are intrinsic components of this course of study. Our graduates become employed as inpatient hospitalists, outpatient diagnosticians, prescribers, therapists, educational and research consultants, private practitioners, and community mental health clinical managers.
See the application requirements for this program.
“The Michigan Difference” in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Care
World-Class Faculty Leaders in Education, Research, and Practice
The faculty who teach in our program are not only experienced instructors and researchers, but also expert clinicians who maintain active practices at the University of Michigan Depression Center, the Inpatient Psychiatry Unit of the U-M Health System, Community Support and Treatment Services in nearby Ypsilanti, and others. As seasoned clinical experts with a range of graduate education and clinical training in Advanced Practice Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing and Clinical Psychology, our faculty are positioned to clinically educate students about key issues within the field of mental-health nursing care. From group/family/couples therapy and parenting, to lifespan development, infant/preschool mental health, and community consultation, our faculty's specialized training allows our students to explore their own interests while also getting the training they need to enter multiple fields upon graduation. Living up to the title "leaders and the best," our faculty are actively involved in national organizations, using their expertise to help shape and advance the future of care and education.
A History of Leadership and Innovation
The University of Michigan School of Nursing has offered a master’s program in psychiatric-mental health nursing for the last fifty years. In 1961, we created our program to prepare scholarly, clinically competent advanced practice clinicians educated to assess, diagnose, and treat psychiatric disorders and potential mental health problems. Our graduates have been making a difference ever since by providing a full range of primary care and preventive mental health services to individuals, families, groups, and communities.
Diverse Practice Settings and Exposure to the Full Spectrum of Care
Whatever the specific interests of our students, we have a clinical placement that will suit their needs. Past students have worked at the U-M Rachel Upjohn Depression Center, the nation’s first comprehensive depression center, in an environment where state of the art behavioral, neuroscience, and nursing research informs the clinical assessment and treatment of individuals and families with a wide range of developmental spectrum, anxiety, mood, and cognitive problems. Others have been placed at U-M's Veteran Affairs Hospital where they experienced firsthand the individual and family consequences of acute and repeated trauma, practiced direct psychiatric diagnostics and treatment, and acted as consultation liaisons on medical units. From chronic mental illness care in state psychiatric facilities and community mental health centers, to acute care of suicidal/homcidal patients in psychiatric emergency services, the breadth of clinical practice opportunities is an asset to our students' educational experience.
Innovative, Groundbreaking Research Specific in the Field
The University of Michigan is known for research that influences both nursing theory and practice. Research and scholarship in the areas of eating disorders, sense of belonging, prevention approaches to depression, nursing education, "cognition, caregivers, and heart failure," and “falls and safety on inpatient units” are just a few of the areas of research in which students can participate in collaborative and interdisciplinary projects. New research findings are regularly incorporated into the curriculum to provide students with the most up-to-date information possible during their studies.
Scope
The University of Michigan School of Nursing Psychiatric-Mental Health Advanced Practice Program meets and exceeds the scope and standards of psychiatric-mental health practice as outlined by the American Psychiatric Nurses Association and the International Society of Psychiatric Nurses.
The art and science of the profession involves the complete delivery of primary mental health care services, including, but not limited to:
- Carrying out health promotion activities including general health teaching
- Designing and conducting mental illness preventive interventions
- Conducting health screening and evaluation
- Eliciting a history appropriate to the patient, presentation, and setting
- Completing a health assessment/examination
- Formulating differential diagnoses based on clinical findings
- Ordering, conducting, and interpreting pertinent laboratory and diagnostic studies and procedures
- Formulating, implementing, and evaluating an outcome-based treatment plan
- Conducting individual, family, group, and network psychotherapy
- Directing and providing home health services to mental health patients
- Prescribing, monitoring, managing, and evaluating psychopharmacological and related medications
- Providing integrated mental health services in general health settings
- Facilitating psychiatric rehabilitation
The process of educating Advanced Practice Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioners and Clinical Nurse Specialists at the University of Michigan School of Nursing begins with a solid foundation in the biological and social sciences. This study provides the tools necessary to differentiate between various aspects of a patient’s functioning and to make appropriate judgments and decisions about interventions, referral, or consultation with other clinicians in the provision of advanced primary care mental health services. Coursework includes advanced physiology and pathophysiology, advanced pharmacology, and advanced health assessment. The curriculum then builds to include coursework in advanced psychiatric assessment and advanced psychotherapeutic interventions, including pharmacological and nonpharmacological approaches. Clinical experience -- an integral component of putting knowledge and theory into practice -- begins once students achieve a solid initial foundation in the sciences and psychiatric assessment and continues throughout the program. To allow for both variety and intensity, all students complete three clinical experiences.
Specialty Appeal
Psychiatric-Mental Health nurses are in demand. According to SimplyHired.com, national job growth in this field was 325% from March 2008 through August 2009. As new needs for services have developed in the health care arena, the role and function of psychiatric-mental health nurses has greatly increased. Expansive opportunities to practice now exist in a variety of roles such as clinician, psychotherapist, case manager, prescriber, patient educator, consultant/liaison, clinical research coordinator, and program administrator.
Over the years, as the role of psychiatric-mental health nurses has increased in capacity, the number of practice settings where Pdychiatric-Mental Health nurses can work is continually expanding. Potential employment opportunities for psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist graduates include: hospitals (general and psychiatric), community mental health centers (urban and rural), primary care offices, home health care, long-term facilities, private psychiatric practices, courts, correctional facilities, domestic violence shelters, employer assistance programs, behavioral care facilities, schools, the list goes on.
In addition to high demand and multiple applications of the degree, Psychiatric-Mental Health nursing is a challenging and rewarding profession. PMH nurses provide a unique blend of services not provided by other mental health professionals by integrating biological, psychological, social and spiritual elements to provide holistic care for individuals, families and groups. As a psychiatric-mental health nurse, individuals have the ability to make a tremendous difference in their patients’ lives by helping them regain control and thus improving their quality of life and by promoting wellness of their entire person, body and mind.
For more information about the profession, visit the following websites:
- American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA)
- International Society of Psychiatric Nurses (ISPN)
- National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF)
- American College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP)
- American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC)
- American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP)
Curriculum
Listed below is the basic plan of study and required courses for the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Program. The School of Nursing is committed to working with students to help them balance the demands of graduate education with their other personal and professional commitments. As such, students can select from full-time and part-time program plans.
Course Number | Course Name | Course Credits |
|---|---|---|
Core Courses | ||
The Theoretical Base for Advanced Nursing Practice | 3 | |
Strategy for Nursing and Health Care | 3 | |
Utilization of Nursing Research in Advanced Practice (An approved statistics and undergraduate research course must be taken before registering for N536) | 3 | |
Data Management, Analysis and Representation for Advanced Practice in Nursing | 2 | |
Specialty Courses | ||
Advanced Physiology and Pathophysiology Across the Lifespan | 4 | |
Advanced Health Assessment for Advanced Practice Nurses | 3 | |
APN Role Development | 2 | |
Psychiatric-Mental Health Advanced Practice Nursing Theory I: Psychiatric Assessment | 3 | |
Psychiatric-Mental Health Advanced Practice Nursing Theory II: Psychotherapeutic Interventions | 3 | |
Psychiatric-Mental Health Advanced Practice Nursing Clinical Practicum I* | 3 | |
Psychiatric-Mental Health Advanced Practice Nursing Clinical Practicum II* | 3 | |
Acute Care, Gerontological and Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nursing Theory III: Managing and Negotiating Health Care Delivery | 3 | |
| N611 | Acute Care, Gerontological and Psychiatric-Mental Health Advanced Practice Nursing Clinical Practicum III* | 4 |
INTP623 | Interpersonal Practice with Families (Recommended) | (3) |
Required Cognates | ||
P659 | Pharmacology I | 3 |
P660 | Pharmacology II | 4 |
Total Credits = 46 + (3) recommended credits *NP and CNS students are placed in clinical settings appropriate to their roles | ||
