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Career Exploration

Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses

Also called: Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurse, PMHNP (Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner), Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist (Psychiatric CNS), Psychiatric NP (Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner)

What they do:

Assess, diagnose, and treat individuals and families with mental health or substance use disorders or the potential for such disorders. Apply therapeutic activities, including the prescription of medication, per state regulations, and the administration of psychotherapy.

On the job, you would:
  • Assess patients' mental and physical status, based on the presenting symptoms and complaints.
  • Diagnose psychiatric disorders and mental health conditions.
  • Document patients' medical and psychological histories, physical assessment results, diagnoses, treatment plans, prescriptions, or outcomes.
On the job, you'll need:

Math and Science

  • psychology
  • biology

Health

  • therapy and counseling
  • medicine and dentistry

Arts and Humanities

  • English language

Education and Training

  • teaching and course design

Basic Skills

  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
  • talking to others

Problem Solving

  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Social

  • understanding people's reactions
  • changing what is done based on other people's actions

Verbal

  • communicate by speaking
  • listen and understand what people say

Ideas and Logic

  • notice when problems happen
  • use rules to solve problems

Attention

  • pay attention to something without being distracted

Investigative

People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.

  • Integrity
  • Concern for Others
  • Dependability
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Attention to Detail
  • Adaptability/Flexibility

Data base user interface and query software

  • Invivo Data EPX ePRO Management System
  • Microsoft Access

Medical software

  • Medical condition coding software
  • Zung Depression Rating Scale

Spreadsheet software

  • Microsoft Excel

Job Outlook

The job outlook for this position is Bright.

New job opportunities are very likely in the future. This career will grow rapidly in the next few years and will have large numbers of openings.

Median Annual Salary: $81,220

Education

Master's degree is usually needed.