Challenges of PMHNP Education in a time of COVID

By Janiece DeSocio, PhD, RN, PMHNP-BC

Never has it been more important to expand our workforce of psychiatric nurses and nurse practitioners, and never has it been more challenging to do so.

The education of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (PMHNPs) requires a rigorous academic education and at least 500 hours of clinical mentorship by experienced preceptors in clinical settings. Doctor of Nursing Practice PMHNP Programs require an additional 500 hours, for a total of 1,000 DNP clinical hours for graduation.

In the time of COVID-19, educators and students have faced unprecedented challenges in PMHNP education.

Universities made a rapid pivot to online courses with video-conferenced classes and seminars. Closure of clinical practicum sites to student placements followed due to insufficient PPE and over-burdened providers. Practicing PMHNPs, shifting to telepsychiatry and straining to respond to the increasing mental health needs of their patients, have little bandwidth in energy or time to incorporate PMHNP students. Uncertainty about when clinical education sites and preceptors will welcome them again places PMHNP students under extraordinary stress.

What may not be as readily apparent is the toll on our students in their non-academic lives. Many of our PMHNP students step up to fill hours and shifts in the RN jobs they hold while attending graduate school. Many are working on the front lines, caring for patients in hospitals and clinical settings while facing uncertainty about their PMHNP education.

Faculty and Deans are reaching out to accreditors of advanced practice education programs to explore all viable options for clinical education. Simulated clinical experiences and standardized patient exercises have long played important roles in PMHNP education, but ultimately it remains the position of regulatory bodies that simulated experiences cannot replace the required hours of supervised clinical experience for PMHNP students.

In the face of so much uncertainty, it is humbling and inspiring to witness the trust our PMHNP students continue to hold in their educational institutions, faculty, and PMHNP colleagues in practice. These students sustain hope and belief in the careers they are dedicated to achieve in caring for vulnerable psychiatric populations.