Decent PMHNP programs

[Deza]

I am currently looking at psych NP programs with a July application deadline for Fall 2018(will be getting a BSN this May). Looking for ones that are mostly online.

These are the ones I am interested in NKU ,EKU and Husson. I would like to know if anyone has worked with graduates from these programs and hear from current students.
I have already called and talked to these universities.

Any advice is welcomed.

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[AnnoyedByFreud]

Any program that's mostly online is not going to be good. You need to attend a program that supplies your clinical rotations and preferably is attached to an academic medical center. I have worked with (and am) grads from the following schools: Columbia, Penn, UCSF, Yale, OHSU. They were all sharp people w/great clinical skills and thriving in their first positions (that included supervision/mentorship - which all new NPs need).

When I worked as an RN in the PES I was training a new hire psych nurse. He was quite experienced and... extremely incompetent. Just awful. We ended up firing him. I found out he was attending some online pmhnp program. He couldn't even handle the basics of being a psych RN and was attempting to become a PMHNP - frightening! Don't go to an online school.

 

[pamac]

I disagree. Mostly online programs attract more fools, but that doesn’t mean you have to be one of the fools.

So what if someone who struggled as an RN got into an online program? He could have just as easily taken his incompetence as an RN to a brick and mortar program (and probably gotten in). I don’t doubt that I personally could get into any NP program in the country. I chose a mostly online program at a good school with a good reputation. Graduates from there do just fine... I’m friends with several of them. We all were nurses less than 5 years when we started school. My friends each had their pick of over 5 jobs after graduating.

Some folks need their hands held more than others. I thrive in an online environment in a way that I wouldn’t if I was stuck to the structure of going to class and waiting for the weaker students to have the information spelled out to them. I go to class and don’t ask questions... never needed to. In the event that I do have a question, an email will usually suffice. Or I just look it up. I study hard and don’t like to be held back. Class only moves as fast as the slowest student. But I’m someone who has done online coursework for over 10 years. It’s a blessing. In 10 years or less, nobody is going to be attending a static lecture in a majority brick and mortar format.

Here’s a little story. I was a TA in my undergrad for a biology professor. Nobody showed up to class, and everyone was getting A’s on the exams. That wouldn’t do because it impacted the professors job security... he didn’t want to be replaced by a recorded lecture. All of a sudden, his PowerPoints had slides cut out of them, and you then could only get the info from them by going to class. If you skipped, you’d be on your own to figure out what would be on the test (lots of potential information to cover). He insisted that there was something fundamental about going to class and having that personal interaction. That semesters grades went down, because even though folks were going to class, they were bored, and not as efficient. Professor didn’t care that the average test score dipped 8 points beginning when he did that compared to the previous semesters. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that when I took the class from him, I never attended lecture after the first day, and I did great. It helped me in my other courses to not have an hour and a half of class time, not to mention all the time spent going to and from class, finding parking, etc.

 

[Deza]

There is a local university in my area that is mostly in class. I rather not spend the gas and waste time driving there though. Clinicals should be fairly easy for me to set up with my job. The local University does not help with placement. I'm leaning toward Husson since they have 2 on campus weeks and I think they have a smaller class. They also seem to have less nursing classes, although I was told that they are making changes to the program.

 

[AnnoyedByFreud]

After practicing for several years now as a psych NP and working with multiple new grads and students, I cannot emphasize the gigantic difference between online-only students and brick and mortar students. I have met multiples RNs attending online PMHNP programs and the difference between those students and students attending actual in-person institutions was dramatic, both in diagnostics and ability to think critically about treatments. I think programs that let you do the whole "choose your own preceptor thing" are screwing this up. The quality control problem (which is already variable at NP programs) is dramatically increased at online schools.

There are always exceptions, but this has very much been the case for me in my area. I'm in a somewhat "more competitive" area I'd say, which attracts tons of nurses, so it might skew things. I see a LOT of new grads from in-person schools, and can compare them with grads from whatever online program. I'm now in a position where I teach/precept both students and new grads, and I'm starting to see some trends. Of course this is all anecdotal, but I believe my experience is pretty telling.

In all reality it probably won't matter since psych is a noncompetitive market in most places. The name of my program has helped me land jobs, but frankly so have my interview skills and ability to talk through cases during interviews. My concern is that online training by definition has poor quality control and it is much easier for a weak/incompetent student to fall through the cracks.

 

[pamac]

I don’t doubt that in person programs probably appear to have a better product because the folks that predominantly attend are motivated folks that self select themselves into those kinds of programs... it’s natural that your slackers would not gravitate to the programs requiring them to relocate and show up on someone else’s terms. So that does put those of us who are quality students that attend majority online programs on the hot seat when we apply and interview to distinguish ourselves. I’m fine with that. Small price to pay for the convenience I’ve been afforded. My school has a great name as well. I had no interest in relocating far out of my region to attend NP school. Most of the Np programs nearby transitioned to majority online programs over the last 10 years, so they decided making folks come to class wasn’t as productive as expanding the reach of the program. Incidentally, my program does a good job of helping with rotations for those that need them.

I guess I’m doubtful about how being on campus makes a huge difference in digesting information. I’d bet my curriculum is pretty similar to what most in person programs offer. I do spend time on campus as part of my hybrid program, so it’s not as if I’m in the same boat as folks going to Walden, or some of the places where you go to campus once at the beginning for an orientation. I think it’s more likely that the quality of instruction involves one’s training reaching a threshold rather than taking place simply on a continuum where in person classes are the top, and completely online are the bottom of the spectrum. That would imply that hybrid programs are in the middle, which i don’t think is a clear distinction. If we are honest with ourselves, most Np education (and most education in general) can be communicated effectively in an online format, with far less in person being required. Any NP that is a junky for showing up in person really should have gone to PA school, because they are the ones going to school all day in person (except for a couple of programs cropping up... one of which is Yale’s online program, which will be a serious disrupter to the industry). No Np program in the country approaches the amount of sheer in class time as even the lowest ranked Pa program, so if you are arguing that in class time=quality, you are already saying that no NP program out there matches what PAs have. I don’t think you feel that way, though. So leave some love in your heart for NPs going to online programs, because if you don’t, you automatically cede any argument to the NP haters.

Having the opportunity to go to school online is one of the reasons Nps are penetrating into more markets than they would have otherwise... hence the increase in influence that we all are benefiting from. Nobody wants saturation or watering down of the brand, but we aren’t there yet. Poorly trained individuals don’t help bend down the cost curve, so there is still a premium for the folks that are competent at the craft.