Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program Overview
The psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) graduate program focuses on promoting mental health and applying evidence-based assessment and treatment strategies to individuals and families across the lifespan. PMHNPs lead psychiatric and addiction treatment teams, develop program policies, and engage in patient advocacy, education and research.
Program Features
- Multidisciplinary study in a 630-hour preceptorship.
- Five-semester program that consists of 49 credit hours.
- Research opportunities on the Purdue West Lafayette campus.
- Distance learning technology.
- Research and practice opportunities at Purdue's nurse-managed clinics.
Program Goals
- Substantially increase the number of qualified psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioners in the state and beyond.
- Prepare master's-level professional nurses to provide evidence-based psychiatric/mental health treatment across the lifespan.
- Maximize interprofessional collaboration to leverage expertise and provide holistic care that improves treatment outcomes for patients and families.
Types of practice
The Purdue PMHNP curriculum has a lifespan approach, allowing graduates to implement evidence-based treatment in the form of psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacologic techniques in a variety of settings. Graduates may choose to provide psychiatric and/or substance use treatment in such areas as:
- Primary care
- Community mental health
- Outpatient psychiatry
- Acute and long-term inpatient psychiatry
- Psychiatric consultation-liaison services
- Correctional facilities and programs
- School-based clinics
- Substance use medication-assisted treatment programs