The PMH-Clinical Nurse Specialist Option has been suspended effective June 2011. All applicants will apply to the PMH CNS-Nurse practitioner combined track.
The School of Nursing offers a curriculum leading to the degree of Master
of Science in Nursing. The program of study prepares students for roles in 
6th ranked program in Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing
advanced nursing practice. The program requires research, professional
and clinical cores, and a selected advanced practice area. Applicants are admitted
for either full-time or part-time study and begin in fall.
Changes in the care of persons diagnosed with or vulnerable to psychiatric disorders have opened new opportunities for psychiatric-mental health advanced practice. Ranked seventh in the nation in graduate programs in psychiatric mental health nursing, the UNC-CH School of Nursing offers a curriculum where students may choose to be prepared as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist (PMH-CNS) or as a combined Psychiatric-Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist/Nurse Practitioner (PMH-CNS and NP). Students cannot elect to be prepared as a PMH-NP only, but must complete the combined curriculum.
With psychiatric mental health advanced practice skills, graduates can independently manage the mental health care needs of clients by functioning as psychotherapists and case managers in a variety of public, private, community, inpatient, and collaborative practice settings, and as consultants for hospitals and community organizations. An emphasis on the interaction and integration of common mental and physical health problems gives the student an evidence-based framework for comprehensive mental health care.
The curriculum includes core courses in advanced practice roles, research, pathophysiology and pharmacotherapeutics. The specialty area focuses on psychiatric mental health diagnostic reasoning, psychopharmacology, individual, group and family psychotherapies and policy, ethical and legal frameworks applied to the primary mental health care of underserved populations. Curricular emphasis on cultural competence and sensitivity challenges students' assumptions and value judgments, and promotes critical analysis of how racial and cultural biases in psychiatric diagnosis have led to disparities in care.
Students seeking additional preparation as a PMH-CNS/NP - Adult focus will be prepared to assume an expanded scope of practice that includes prescriptive authority, advanced comprehensive assessment, diagnostic reasoning and collaborative management of health problems common to adults. All students completing the PMH-CNS/NP area are required to complete a course in advanced assessment and diagnostic reasoning of adults, a course focused on primary care management of common health problems in adults, and a final practicum that includes prescription and management of psychotropic medications. Students electing to be prepared as a PMH-CNS/NP Family focus must also complete additional coursework (2 courses) in primary care management of children and pediatric pharmacology.
All of the specialty area courses contain both seminar and clinical practicum components. Graduates are eligible to seek the appropriate American Nurses' Credentialing Center certifications in Psychiatric and Mental Health nursing. Full-time students who begin during fall semester can complete the program in 4 to 5 semesters, plus one summer term. Part-time students usually complete the program in 6to 9 semesters, plus one intervening summer term.
Clinical sites are selected to meet course objectives and individual student learning needs. Clinical experiences may include providing psychiatric assessment and crisis intervention in a primary mental health facility, providing intensive intervention in a facility for severely and persistently mentally ill clients, providing individual, family and group therapy in mental health centers, treating medically ill clients with psychosocial needs, providing intervention care in an inpatient setting, practicing in a private nurse-managed practices and providing assessment and intervention to psychiatric home health agencies. Students receive intensive individual and group supervision relative to clinical experiences. Clinical experiences, research experiences, and elective courses are arranged to meet the student's learning goals.
Suggested Full Time Plans of Study (Part-time study is available):
School of Nursing
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Carrington Hall, CB #7460
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7460
For general information on the School of Nursing and application materials, contact:
Office of Admissions and Student Services
(919) 966-4260
nursing@unc.edu
