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Doctoral Program

BSN to DNP-PMHNP
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner

Program Length

32 Mo.

Accredited 1

CCNE

Format

Online

Clinical Placement

We Pledge
calendar

NEXT START March 3rd

Waived Enrollment Fee

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Find your place as a decision-making leader in the field of nursing

AccreditationCCNE accredited1, Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission
Format100% online didactic classes, hands-on clinical experience, and completion of a DNP Practice Project
ClinicalsWe pledge your clinical placement
AdmissionsEligibility requirements include a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and a minimum 3.0 GPA
CertificationBecome eligible for the Board Certified PMHNP (PMHNP-BC) exam from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC)

Learn More Today!

Classes start: March 3rd

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Go from BSN to DNP-PMHNP with Herzing University

The BSN to Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) in Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner degree is a 71-credit graduate program which prepares you for a career as a PMHNP. The online degree program provides students with fundamental knowledge and skills in systems-based practice, improvement science, epidemiology, telehealth, psychiatric mental healthcare, counseling and psychotherapy, and much more.

Earn the education required to transition from bedside nursing into an important role addressing a crucial need in mental healthcare. Our program is designed to help you reach greater career heights in nursing—both as a PMHNP and wider contributor to the nursing field.

BSN to DNP-PMHNP

  • Career-focused curriculum

    Discover the crucial knowledge and skills required to succeed in your work and build a foundation for continued career growth.

  • Flexible schedule

    We work hard to help you maintain school-life balance, striving to be as flexible as possible for busy non-traditional students.

  • Virtual services

    Access to extensive virtual services, including academic advising, tutoring, support services, technical support and library services.

  • Lifelong support

    We support your ongoing career advancement by providing comprehensive, personalized student services with lifelong career coaching.

  • Rolling admissions

    No application deadlines to worry about. Apply when you’re ready and prepare to get started soon.

Curriculum

BSN to DNP-PMHNP courses & curriculum details

Our curriculum is developed in compliance with the model for advanced nursing education of the AACN new Essentials (2021) Level 2 sub-competencies. The program prepares you for 21st century nursing practice focused on interdisciplinary knowledge, leadership, innovation, and the ability to impact systems and population health change.

All didactic courses are delivered online. The curriculum includes 540 hours of hands-on PMHNP clinical experience and a DNP Practice Project.

ProgramMonths iCredits
Doctor of Nursing Practice in Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner – BSN to DNP3271

i. Average number of months for students to complete program.

Required Core Courses

All courses, 33.00 semester credit hours, are required.

The course focuses on introduction of advanced level nursing competencies as described by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing in their 2021 publication The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education. By engaging in course learning resources students will gain knowledge of professional nursing concepts that when applied in practice result in improved outcomes and serve to transform the healthcare environment. Students will utilize their relatable and application level of competency, across numerous essential nursing domains, for exploring their role as a leader in healthcare and in designing a quality improvement process.

Building on foundational knowledge of statistical/bio-statistical concepts from prior education, the aim of the course is to foster the development of practice scholarship competencies. This graduate-level course integrates advanced concepts in nursing theory, research methods, and epidemiology to provide a comprehensive understanding of evidence-based practice in nursing. The course emphasizes the critical evaluation and application of theoretical frameworks in nursing, the evaluation of research findings for application to practice, and the analysis of epidemiological data as a basis for informing healthcare practice and policy.

This course focuses on the integration, translation, and application of established and evolving theoretical, evidence-based, and disciplinary nursing knowledge as the basis for clinical judgment and innovation in nursing practice. Students examine frameworks for knowledge and propose a practice application informed by leadership principals and ethical decision making.

The course focuses on a systems-based approach to enhance quality and minimize risk of harm to patients and providers through system effectiveness and individual performance using established and emerging principles of safety and improvement science. Students will review metrics and data driven benchmarks to analyze quality and safety initiatives, employ change theory and improvement science processes to design evidence‐based interventions, and demonstrate advocacy to promote a just institutional culture reflecting resiliency, civility, and respect.

This course focuses on the delivery of care using interprofessional teams in an environment fostering quality and safety and based on the adoption, integration, and dissemination of best practices, current practice guidelines, and evidence‐based interventions. Students will evaluate the effectiveness of interprofessional communication and the impact of team dynamics and performance on desired outcomes in practice. Using tools and techniques to support and improve the efficacy of team‐based interactions student will develop a plan to enhance collaboration.

The course explores the transformative role of telehealth in modern healthcare systems. The course provides an in-depth examination of telehealth technologies, their implementation, and their impact on patient care and healthcare delivery. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of how telehealth can address disparities, enhance patient engagement, and improve health outcomes.

This course will explore information and communication technologies and informatics processes used to provide care, gather data, drive decision making, and manage and improve the delivery of safe, high‐quality, and efficient healthcare services in accordance with best practice and professional and regulatory standards. Students will perform an information technology analysis of their practice and develop strategic planning to direct the selection and implementation of new information and communication technologies for their practice setting.

This course focuses on proficient multidimensional leadership for healthcare. Leadership theory, managing change in complex environments, mentoring, and creating a workplace environment that promotes social justice and equity, self‐care, personal health, and well‐being, and lifelong learning will be emphasized. Student will examine their personal, professional, and leadership development process, and create a three-dimensional advocacy-based approach to provide leadership in for the healthcare, professional, and community arenas.

This course applies the principals of best practices, change theory, and improvement and implementation science to the development of innovative solutions for complex health systems to ensure optimal care. Course key concepts include organizational structure, including relationships among macro‐, meso‐, and microsystems across healthcare, and financial and payment models for cost management and reimbursement. Students will engage in a strategic planning initiative for a complex healthcare system which enhances value, access, quality, and cost‐effectiveness, including policy to address health equity and eliminate structural discrimination.

The course focuses on the application, evaluation, and dissemination of knowledge in practice to improve health and transform health care. The processes for the generation, critique, synthesis, and translation of knowledge will be examined. Students will complete human subject protection certification, determine best practices for a specified clinical initiative, and apply evidence to clinical decision making using a framework of evidence-based practice and improvement science.

This course examines the healthcare delivery continuum from public health prevention to disease management of populations and describes collaborative activities with both traditional and non‐traditional partnerships from affected communities, public health, industry, academia, health care, local government entities, and others for the improvement of equitable population health outcomes. For a selected population, students will analyze health priorities and the potential for collaboration and partnerships to provide a basis for interventions, policy, advocate strategy, and emergency preparedness.

Required Specialty Courses

All courses, 30.00 semester credit hours, are required.

This course is an examination of the process of holistic assessment (physical, psychosocial, and cultural) of individuals across the lifespan. Focus is critical thinking and decision-making related to the role of the advanced practice nurse in a primary care setting.

The course examines scientific concepts of pathophysiology essential to diagnostic reasoning and clinical management of common disease states. The dilemma of cost and need for laboratory and radiographic evidence to support diagnosis is examined.

This course is designed to advance the student's knowledge of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacotherapeutics in the management of health and disease states. Major categories of pharmacological agents are examined in the context of the life span, culture, and health and disease states. State and federal regulation related to purchase, possession, administration and patient education about controlled substances, pharmacologic agents and non-pharmacologic agents used as medications are examined.

This course provides scientific knowledge of psychopharmacology and its application to treatment of clients with psychiatric disorders across the lifespan. This course studies the advanced concepts related to neuroscience, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of psychotropic drugs as well as applications of psychopharmacology in the treatment and management of disorders in mental health. Substance abuse is explored with context of mental health disorders.

This course is an examination of the processes applicable to clinical decision making across the life span with patients exhibiting psychiatric disorders. Models for clinical decision making in mental health will be presented. An overview of key assessments and the clinical activity categories that impact clinical decision making will be provided. Application of course concepts will be accomplished through engagement with hypothetical clinical scenarios in the mental health patients. 

This course examines the guiding principles and ethics of counseling and the therapeutic environment for mental health patients across the lifespan. Techniques of counseling are introduced and correlated with relationships. Students will demonstrate techniques in the clinical setting in therapeutic milieus. 

This course prepares students to assess, diagnose, and manage mental health care needs across the life span. Emphasis will be placed on underlying acute and chronic psychiatric/mental health diagnoses. Clinical opportunities will be utilized to all the PMHNP to apply concepts in primary and acute care settings with adults and families. 

This purpose of this course is to provide students further studies related psychiatric/mental health care management of patients across the life span to include underlying acute and chronic psychiatric/mental health disorders. Clinical opportunities will be utilized to apply concepts in primary and acute care settings with adults and families.

This course is an immersion experience into a mental health practice and the role of the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. 

Required Project Residency Core Courses

All courses, 8.00 semester credit hours, are required.

The course focuses on designing and preparing a quality improvement Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project. In this course, students will review expectations for a DNP project, examine completed DNP projects, identify a practice problem, create a project prospectus, develop a project protocol, create a project timeline, estimate costs associated with the proposed project, submit Institutional Review Board (IRB) project approval application, secure a project stakeholder/liaison agreement, and complete preparations necessary to support implementation, where possible, of the project.

This course is the first of a three-course residency series which supports the implementation, management, completion, and dissemination of a DNP project focused on improving clinical practice. In this first course students will work with their Chair and Committee to initiate their project.

This course is the second of a three-course residency series which supports the implementation, management, completion, and dissemination of a DNP project focused on improving clinical practice. In this second course students will continue to work with their Chair and Committee on the implementation and evaluation of their project. 

This course is the third of a three-course series which supports the implementation, management, completion, and dissemination of a DNP project focused on improving clinical practice. In this third course students will complete the implementation and evaluation of their project, present their project results, and prepare a written deliverable of their project.

Clinical Proficiency Exam and Policy Courses

The following courses are 0.00 semester credit hours associated with the policy outlined above. Students are required to take as co-requisite courses along with NU 611, NU 642, NU 664 or NU 671, depending on the program of study. NSG 0600 - Clinical Proficiency Course Semester Credit Hours: 0.00 NSG 0600R - Clinical Proficiency Remediation Course (if needed) Semester Credit Hours: 0.00

Tuition & Cost 

Tuition & Cost

The cost of tuition for the BSN to DNP-PMHNP program is $755 per credit.

You can potentially earn even greater savings by transferring credit from prior college coursework, applying for financial aid, or potential partnership opportunities through your employer.

Our goal is your career advancement. That’s why we are always working to improve our curriculum and processes to make our program as affordable as possible while preparing you best for success in your work.

Find My Estimate 

  • Scholarships & Financial Aid

    You may be eligible for multiple scholarships and grants—including our Nurses Circle of Achievement scholarship, which offers up to 10% tuition reduction.

    Find scholarships and grants  

  • Military/Veteran Discounts

    Veterans, Active Duty U.S. Servicemembers, and spouses may qualify for a 10% tuition discount or tuition reduction to $250 per credit.

    VA/Military benefits  

Find My Estimate 
Requirements

Admissions requirements

Prerequisites to enroll in the Herzing University BSN to DNP-PMHNP program include:

  • Hold a current, active, and unrestricted license as a registered nurse (RN) in the same state in which they live. (Note: Holding a multi-state, compact state license and being a resident in a compact license state will be deemed to have met this requirement.)
  • Hold a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree from an accredited university or college with an overall minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.

Eligible states for enrollment: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Your clinical placement is our pledge.

We understand securing clinical placement as part of a BSN to DNP-PMHNP program is one of the biggest concerns students face. At Herzing, we offer guidance and support through our step-by-step Clinical Guidance Process to ensure you can get the clinical practice experiences you need.

As a Herzing student, we’ll encourage you to find your own preceptor and clinical sites as there are many benefits to doing so. However, we provide extensive support should you find difficulty along the way. With Herzing, you are never on your own.

Because of our strong relationships with healthcare providers across the U.S. and our comprehensive Clinical Guidance Process, we are confident in our ability to help you find clinical placement. So much so that if you are unable to find a clinical site on your own, we pledge to step in and help you secure clinical placement.*

* Subject to terms and conditions outlined in the enrollment documents.

MSN Clinical Placement Pledge Herzing Badge

Classes Start: March 3rd

Waived Enrollment Fee

Discover the educational pathway designed to maximize your career potential. Reach for greater heights with Herzing University.

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Careers

Earn a DNP and become a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner

Graduate from Herzing University wearing a cap and gown with a Filipino flag stole, smiling and standing in front of a Herzing University banner. The stole features a PMHNP designation, indicating completion of the MSN-PMHNP program, Class of 2023.” Image
Image

The BSN to DNP-PMHNP program is designed to provide you the fastest path to both earn the highest degree in nursing and begin practicing as an PMHNP.

The current minimum degree requirement for PMHNP certification is a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) with a PMHNP specialization.

However, the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) has favored increasing the degree requirement to the DNP level for several years. The knowledge and skills earned in a DNP degree program can potentially better prepare you for the broad and complex care demanded from nurse practitioners in the present and future.

Becoming a PMHNP

Job outlook

Graduate from a BSN to DNP program with a PMHNP specialization and you’ll be prepared to join a career field expected to grow rapidly over the next 10 years.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment of nurse practitioners is expected to rise 45% from 2022-2032.*

Locations

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Disclosures

Accreditation & Disclosures

1. The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program at Herzing University Madison is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (http://www.ccneaccreditation.org). Herzing University is approved to offer programs in an online learning modality through association with the main campus in Madison, Wisconsin.

Herzing University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (hlcommission.org), an institutional accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

View all accreditation and approvals

* Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics 2023 / Occupational Outlook Handbook 2022. BLS estimates do not represent entry-level wages and/or salaries. Multiple factors, including prior experience, age, geography market in which you want to work and degree field, will affect career outcomes and earnings. Herzing neither represents that its graduates will earn the average salaries calculated by BLS for a particular job nor guarantees that graduation from its program will result in a job, promotion, salary increase or other career growth.

Classes Start: March 3rd

Waived Enrollment Fee

Discover the educational pathway designed to maximize your career potential. Reach for greater heights with Herzing University.

Request Info Apply Now