<p>Will I be prepared for a career as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner if I dont have Registered Nurse experience? Don't PMHNPs have the same level of education as Licensed Clinical Social Workers?</p>
<p>In order to become licensed as a Psych NP you will need to obtain a MSN Degree in Psych/MH NP area and pass a National Certification Exam. Many, but not all, MSN Programs require BSN grads to obtain a years work experience as a RN before you can be considered for admission. A small number of MSN Programs will admit BSN grads right after they graduate with their BSN with no work requirement, but even in this situation you will need to obtain your RN license (all MSN Programs require their students to be licensed as RN’s). You would need to check with the MSN Programs you are interested in attending to see if they require RN work experience in order to apply.</p>
<p>Thank you for the reply. I plan to work as an RN for at least a year but I am more concerened about being prepared to do the job. I have read about NPs who worked as RNs for 10 years plus and they always say the experience was necessary in their new roles. But I was curious as to why LCSW require the masters degree without years of previous experience (Am I incorrect on this?) Is mental health different than say cardiology or Acute Care? Again, thank you for any replies on this.</p>
<p>There are programs that are direct entry for students who have degrees in other areas. It take about 4 years to complete but you will graduate with a MSN and trained for NP. You will still need to sit for cert.</p>