PMHNP Certification in Connecticut
Healthcare professionals across the entire globe require certification as part of their healthcare service delivery, career, and practice. For them to obtain certification, healthcare professionals only have one choice, which is to get certified through the American Credentialing Center (ANCC). This board offers medical practitioners with board certification that lasts throughout their entire professional life. This paper researches the process of attaining certification by describing the PMHNP for Connecticut, comparing these practices with Florida State, and the standards required in the issuance of the certification. The paper further outlines a checklist necessary for passing the national certification exams.
- Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) in Connecticut
In Connecticut, there is a specific limitation in the PMHNP practice outlined by the AANP. The state restricts professional from engaging in more than one aspect of the NP practice. In the program provision, the Connecticut university system signs affiliation agreements with other neighboring states (Barton Associates, 2017). These agreements have numerous advantages such as convenient credit transfer, easy relocation, or inter-university state transfer for students, among others. For PMHNP in Connecticut, the supervisory body, the Practice Act, and the prescriptive authority are the three primary bodies that regulate the practice. The prescriptive authority body defines the nursing practice and provides legal and ethical principles for guiding the practice. These guidelines include prescription controls, supervisory processes, and registration of controlled substances. The state’s governing body is the Connecticut Board of Nursing, which is regulated by the Practice Act (APA, 2016).
- Comparing the PMHNP practice environment in Connecticut with Boston
The PMHNP practice in Connecticut varies significantly with other states. The state has a legal nursing board that supervises the process of admission. The board is tasked with ensuring that potential nurses meet all the course requirements. The nursing practice is controlled by the Connecticut Practice Act, which defines the practice scope and other legal issues guiding the practice (Orlando, 2017). In Boston, the prescriptive requires a Collaborative Practice Agreement (CPA) between the physician and the nurse. The agreement guides the role of nurses on medical prescriptions and controlled substances. Both Boston and Connecticut require on-site supervision of NPs by the supervising physician. Currently, nurse practitioners in Connecticut have a higher degree of freedom of practice than nurses in most US states (Orlando, 2017).
- Professional and/or clinical practice issue a new PMHNP will need to
Consider and address with the Certification, Licensure, Credentialing, or Relocation
Process
There are specific clinical practice issues that new PMHNP students need to understand. Professionally, legal terms related to relocation and credit transfers for students exist in practice. Each state has specific guidelines affecting nursing practice. For example, Connecticut has a different approach to authority (ANCC, 2020). A student may have a different perspective on this, which may affect their choice of nursing school. In regards to university transfer, it becomes easy when a specific university signs affiliate agreements with other institutions (ANCC, 2020). As such, students must make informed decisions about the school they need to join to avoid inconvenience in the future.
- Checklist for Passing the National Certification Exam
Before taking the certification exams, students must prepare adequately. This preparation involves course requirements, financial preparedness, and personal preparedness. Certification applicants must ensure that their application is timely and complete. The success of an application is determined by the level at which it meets the admission requirements (Butts & Rich, 2016). The application is usually made online through the national exam licensure board. After approval, students are required to pay exam fees as part of the final process. The examination board then releases the official exam timetable, which students can access on their website. Depending on whether a student is part-time or full-time, they need to develop a study plan that should allow enough coverage of the course to be examined to satisfy the examination board (Butts & Rich, 2016). The student is then ready to take the test.
References
American Nurses Credentialing Center (2019). Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (Across the Lifespan) Certification. Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org/our-certifications/psychiatric-mental-health-nurse-practitioner/
American Psychiatric Association (2016). Practice Guidelines for the psychiatric evaluation of adults. Retrieved from https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.1176/appi.books.9780890426760
Barton Associates. (2017). Nurse Practitioner Scope of practice laws. Retrieved from https://www.bartonassociates.com/locum-tenens-resources/nurse-practitioner-scope-of-practice-laws
Butts, JB, & Rich, K.L. (2016). Philosophies and theories for advanced nursing practice. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Retrieved from https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.1176
Orlando, J. (2017). Advanced Practice Registered Nurses in Connecticut. Retrieved from https://www.cga.ct.gov/2016/rpt/pdf/2016-R-0190.pdf