Further Education Option for Nurses: A Post Master Psych NP Online Program

By Maria Garcia Ingier

As a nurse, there are a lot of interesting career opportunities that you can dive into. The nursing field is an umbrella term that encompasses a whole variety of different options within the nursing field. One of the most interesting ones, if you're interested in psychiatry, psychology and mental health, would be a postmaster's degree in psychiatric mental health. This is one of the additional courses that nurses can do, as it is highly needed in hospitals and care facilities but it also gives nurses the opportunity to dive into psych.

This article aims to shed light on what a post master psych NP program online is, how the online course is advantageous to those who are working simultaneously and how this degree can improve the community that the nurse works.

What does a Post-Master Psychiatric Mental Health Practitioner Do?

As the name suggests, this is an advanced practice nurse who essentially goes to assist, diagnose and treat mental health conditions. The focus is much more on mental health as nurses are there to help and promote positive mental health. The responsibilities that you have as a mental health nurse practitioner are working with other healthcare providers, improving clinical outcomes and processes of mental healthcare facilities, correctly assessing and diagnosing patients that come to you with mental health conditions and ultimately providing the right therapy to patients with mental health disorders. These nurses typically work hand-in-hand with psychiatric doctors, who are then in charge of actually prescribing medication.

The interesting thing about this degree is that it puts you in a better position in terms of work opportunities because you're an advanced nurse with a very specific set of skills, allowing you to navigate to work field with a little bit more information. It also allows you to work in more than just a hospital, namely you can also work in health centers, forensic facilities, outpatient clinics, pediatric clinics, emergency departments and even become a travel nurse. You see – the world is truly your oyster.

The Impact of an Online Program

The important thing to note about this program is the fact that it is online. You can also absolutely find this program in person, if you have the time and energy to physically attend a live campus or university, however, a lot of nurses who delve into this advanced nursing program, typically are doing so whilst still working as a nurse and therefore don't have the time to miss work. 

Therefore, the online setup works really well for working nurses, as it allows them to engage in material when they have the time to do so. For example, if you're a nurse and you're on call for 72 hours and you know that you're going to have your Monday and Tuesday off, you can prioritize these two days and focus on your online program. 

It is important that you find an online course and platform that suits your needs best. It's also vital that the online course that you do is registered and licensed so that you're learning the accurate information to receive your certificate. Furthermore, you need to ensure that there are clinical hours that are included in the program, as that is paramount to your education and your career.

The Importance of Mental Health

The importance of this program is not limited to you. Of course, it allows you to be a higher practitioner nurse, it will give you a lot more access to working fields and will likely improve your working conditions and consultation fees. However, the practice of helping individuals with mental health conditions is massively important for them, their families and the community at large. 

The mental epidemic is something that a lot of individuals struggle with nowadays with the advancement of social media and the pressure that comes with globalization, a lot of individuals feel like they're not doing enough, are not productive enough and are essentially struggling with mental health, as the world feels like a never-ending working cycle. Therefore, as an educated and informed nurse, you're able to step in with knowledge on your side and actually try to help diagnose patients. 

Think it Through

As you can see from the above, becoming a mental health nurse practitioner will take quite a lot of energy and effort. It requires you to complete the full program, including all the modules, the outpatient work and the clinical hours. Furthermore, it will also require you to get back into study mode. This can often be a little bit tricky for nurses who've been working for a long time, as the idea of going back to study might seem challenging, however, to be fair, in the medical field, nurses and doctors are constantly trying to learn and evolve as technologies and medicine changes and therefore, learning is not a strange concept to people in this field. 

However, it will take away from your weekends and your free time and this is something that you need to balance. If this program is something that you're interested in, then make sure that you have a good game plan, inform the people around you that you're starting this program so that they can give you a little bit more support and also tell the medical facility that you work with this is something that you're embarking on.