Beginning in the Fall 2021 semester, Mount Saint Mary College will offer a new Master of Science in Nursing and Post-Master's Certificate Nursing track: Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.
The Mount's Nursing program is a highly competitive and robust at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing will now be the third track offered in both the Master's and Post-Master's program, in addition to Adult-Gerontology and Family Health.
Christine Berté, chair of the School of Nursing, director of Graduate Nursing Programs, and associate professor of Nursing, said this new track "opens up greater opportunities for practice in many types of outpatient and inpatient clinical settings...nurse practitioners will be able to offer comprehensive care in a society that now sees a tremendous increase in mental health challenges due to the pandemic and its related stressors."
Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing courses will focus on care for clients of all ages and backgrounds with mental health issues and psychiatric disorders. The program pays particular attention to the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and management of psychiatric clients across the lifespan, as well as mental health promotion and psychiatric disease prevention.
At the completion of the Post-Master's Certificate program, students will be eligible to sit for the American Nurses Credentialing Center or American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Adult-Gerontology, Family Health, or Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Certification examination.