MSN – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner

Advance your clinical nursing skills to become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. Our 44-credit-hour Master of Science in Nursing Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (MSN-PMHNP) program prepares you for this advanced nursing role of providing mental health treatment and support services to clients and their families.

Our small classes and personalized attention from faculty make it easy for working nurses to connect with professors. Our faculty are practicing clinicians, and they bring that knowledge to the classroom, preparing you for your own clinical experiences in nursing.

You will also benefit from connections to Louisville’s thriving medical community and established clinical placements.

As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, you’ll be able to create holistic treatment plans specific to each patient’s psychiatric needs, working with doctors to diagnose and prescribe medication.

The focus of MSN-PMHNP is to apply theory, research and evidence-based practice into clinical settings with clients across the life span. As a graduate of the Master of Science in Nursing – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (MSN-PMHNP) program, you’ll be prepared to:

• think critically to solve problems of a diverse client population
• serve in a variety of acute, sub-acute, and community-based clinical settings
• apply for certification by the appropriate credentialing body

Depending on your level of education, you can pursue additional specialties within the mental health profession. These roles range from providing general psychiatric assessments and diagnoses to working as a counselor or in a research setting.

• 44 credit hours of coursework, with 750 required clinical hours completed during the second year of study
• 20 professional service hours of learning outside the classroom
• Coursework is consistent with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)’s Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing and the competencies prescribed by the specialty’s professional organization.
• A maximum of 15 students per cohort
• Enrollment in May of each year

The Louisville metropolitan area and adjacent suburban and rural areas contain a wide variety of clinical settings for clinical education rotations, as well as future employment opportunities. Focused and intentional clinical placements throughout the program give clinical partners the opportunity to recruit graduate students early in the program, ensuring high employment rates upon graduation.

Spalding University School of Nursing Faculty stay on top of the latest learning and teaching strategies and research through continuing nursing education, including:

• Nurse Tim webinars
• KeithRN resources
• CCNE
• NONPF
• ANA online resources
• Spalding University Center for Teaching and Learning

Additionally, graduate Nursing Faculty hold an annual retreat, further developing the skill set for teaching in the graduate program.

We want our program to be the right fit for you. Reach out to us if you’d like to schedule a visit or even sit in on one of our classes: Pharmacology, pathophysiology and physical assessment.

Access to mental health providers and prevalence of opioid abuse and other mental health issues in Kentucky and across the nation are identified by multiple agencies as one of the top three healthcare needs for the American population.

Kentucky Primary Care Office 2021 needs assessment report identifies mental health care shortage as significant deficiency where 100% of all Kentucky counties have mental health care shortage (Kentucky Department of Public Health, 2021). The same report indicates 56% of interviewees report one of the greatest health issues to be opioid abuse and mental health being the third most reported (40%).

Our graduates work in a variety of settings, including:

• Inpatient and outpatient mental health
• Partial hospitalization programs
• Integrated mental health settings

The Baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral degrees in nursing at Spalding University are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, 655 K Street, NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20001, 202-887-6791.