University of Rhode Island College of Nursing Announces Nurse Practitioner Degree in Psychiatric Mental Health

The University of Rhode Island (URI) recently announced that it will be introducing a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner master’s degree program to its College of Nursing in the fall. The program is intended to help fill a need for highly trained clinicians in the midst of a nationwide mental health and addiction crisis.

Denise Coppa, associate dean of the College of Nursing graduate programs, tells Today.URI.edu, “We have a huge mental health and addiction crisis across the country. We need more people who are clinically trained and can handle working with mental health patients. The students will come out of the program certified to deliver mental health counseling and therapy, and will be licensed to prescribe psychotropic medications.”

URI’s new nursing program is designed to educate psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners who are capable of providing psychiatric care to individuals and families in a multitude of health care settings. The program is being offered as part of the regular, on-going curriculum in the URI College of Nursing and upon completion of the program, graduates will be eligible to take the American Nurses Credentialing Center certification exam.

The program is based at Rhode Island’s Nurse Education Center in Providence where classes in psychiatric assessment and diagnosis, neuro-psychopharmacology, and integrated treatment for older adults will be offered. Students will also be able to complete their clinical hours in local hospitals, community health centers, and private practice offices.

To learn more about the University of Rhode Island College of Nursing’s new master’s degree program in psychiatric mental health, visit here.