Mental health nurse practitioner residency program | veterans affairs

With generous support from the Office for Academic Affiliations (OAA), the Durham VA Health Care System, in partnership with an academic school, has developed an innovative mental health

nurse practitioner (MHNP) Residency Program. The MHNP Residency Program will enhance the novice nurse practitioners' knowledge and skills acquired during their nursing practice and

graduate-level academic education and prepare them to be proficient in providing mental health treatment for the veteran population. The primary goal of the MHNP Residency Program is to:

Enhance mental health workforce by producing nurse practitioners proficient in the following: * Comprehensive mental health evaluation * Assessment, diagnostic testing, treatment, and

planning of care in mental health  for Veterans. * Management of psychopharmacology, including consideration of risks and benefits of psychoptropics * System-based approach to anticipate and

deploy resources to optimize outcomes *  Leadership of interprofessional teams in providing high quality care and designing quality improvement initiatives The trainees will spend 40 hours

in clinical and didactic learning activities weekly to become proficient in 24 competencies specified in MHNPR curriculum. * Residency curriculum includes: 80% experiential and 20% didactic

learning. * MHNP Residency clinical sites include various clinical areas of the Durham VA Medical Center, community-based programs, and home-based programs of the Durham VA Health Care

System.  * Clinical rotation sites include: Psychiatric Acute Recovery Center (Inpatient Psychiatry), PEC (Psychiatry Emergency Care),  Primary Care Mental Health Integration, and

Psychiatric Consults & Liaison (80%) * Clinical and didactic activities are planned which are hybrid (face to face or telehealth) * Integrated and parallel clinical didactic sessions

(20%) * Quality-improvement project * Didactic sessions frequently occur in conjunction with other DVAHCS training programs including the Psychiatry residents and the Geriatric Extended Care

and Primary Care, NP residents to promote interprofessional learning. * Clinical faculty will facilitate the novice NP’s journey from a novice advanced practice provider to a proficient

advanced practice provider with expertise in mental health. * Upon successful completion of the residency, the trainees will be given the opportunity to apply for available vacancies within

the VA Health Care System across the country.