*This program is under a course revision process and will be updated soon.

Dr. Paula Allocca, PMHNP-BC, Assistant Professor and Director of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program

Health & Life Sciences Building, (540) 665-5502, paula.allocca@su.edu

The School of Nursing offers a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) Post Graduate Certificate for RNs who hold a Master of Science in Nursing Degree or are MSN-Clinical NurseSpecialists (CNS) with certification in mental-health nursing. The post-graduate certificate is designed to provide the nurse with the necessary knowledge, skills, values and experiences to assume the advanced practice role of a PMHNP. The program consists of didactic and clinical course content addressing differential diagnoses, psychotherapy, medication management and treatments specific to behavioral/psychiatric conditions across the lifespan. 

The post-graduate PMHNP student will complete 600 clinical clock hours during this program.  A variety of clinical settings will be offered that are faculty or preceptor-supervised to assure competency-based learning and support throughout the program. Admission to this program occurs in the summer. Graduates are eligible to take the national certification exam given by either the American Nurses Credentialing Certification (ANCC) or the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). This Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) program also has an initiative (collaborative) relationship between Shenandoah University School of Nursing and other schools of nursing. Through this formal arrangement, graduate nursing students attending collaborative agreement schools will receive a graduate degree from the home university and a post-graduate certificate in PMHNP from Shenandoah University.   Students in an initiative program will complete core requirements from the home university before entering the Shenandoah University PMHNP program of study.

• 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.