Robbie McCauley, Robbie McCauley, Associate Dean of the Graduate Programs, Director of the Doctorate of Nursing program and Assistant  Professor
Health & Life Sciences Building, (540) 545-7267, rmccaule87@su.edu 

The Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) Program is designed to provide the nurse with the necessary knowledge, skills, values, meanings and experiences to assume the role of a PMHNP in a variety of clinical settings. The program consists of didactic and clinical course content essential to provide psychotherapy to individuals, families and groups within hospitals and community settings. Differential diagnoses, health promotion and psychotropic medication management (prescriptive authority) for the psychiatric mental-health patient is addressed in this curriculum. The PMHNP student will complete approximately 600 clinical hours during this program of study. Shenandoah University collaborates with other universities to complete coursework in the role of PMHNP. The PMHNP program is offered on the Winchester campus and at the ICPH site in Fairfax, Virginia in a online synchronous format.  Graduates of this program are eligible to take the appropriate national certification exam. 

In addition to the credits of required MSN core courses, the Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner requires additional specialty credit hours.

Graduates of the PMH program will be able to: 

• Synthesize evidence-based practice, clinical guidelines and clinical judgment to improve the quality of behavioral and psychiatric mental health practice in diverse populations with consideration for social determinants of health.
• Apply ethical, cultural, legal and social factors that influence access, equity, quality and cost effectiveness to advance mental health nursing practice.
• Demonstrate, through competency based evaluation, the delivery, management, health policy process and leadership of advanced practice nursing and population health in mental health care settings.
• Create interprofessional dialogues and utilize healthcare technologies to optimize clinical decision making and evidence-based practice to support and strengthen patient outcomes in behavioral and mental health.
• Construct a sustainable professional psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner identity and practice that reflects compassionate, holistic and wellness-focused patient-centered care for diverse populations.