A Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program: Meeting the Needs of the Community and Veterans as Students as Well as Care Recipients

The goal of excellence in nursing education has led to efforts to recruit students into baccalaureate and graduate programs. Additionally, a need exists to prepare practitioners to meet the mental health needs of health care recipients, including veterans. As a strategy for meeting these objectives, educators from an urban private college proposed a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) program. This program was developed in response to an identified need in the community for improved mental health services. Although several groups in need would be served, attention was focused on veterans in need of care as well as those veteran students interested in Psychiatric Mental Health (PMH) nursing. Some factors that supported this thinking included the proximity of the campus to the Veterans Administration Medical Center and other veteran community services, the college's significant number of student veterans, and its distinction as among the most veteran friendly campuses in the nation. This article reviews the literature that supports the need for graduate education in this specialty and the value of providing educational opportunities for interested veterans.