Running head: ACADEMIC SUCCESS AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN 1

Academic Success and Professional Development Plan

Name:

Institution:
ACADEMIC SUCCESS AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2

Comparison between Mental Health MSN program and Public health Nursing

There are significant differences between Public Health Nursing and Mental Health MSN

programs. Public health nursing is a healthcare practice that focuses on helping community

members protects their health through nursing, public health, and social services. As a public

health nurse, one is required to create awareness and grant medical services that prevent the

development and spread of diseases among community groups (Mo.gov, 2020). Preparation to

become a certified public health nurse entails developing a primary focus on educational

materials that highlight community strengths based on existing and current scientific knowledge.

Therefore, public health nurses focus on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases

within the community. Mental health MSN programs were established to help Registered Nurses

evaluate, diagnose, and attend to patients who have psychiatric illnesses. Psychiatric Mental

Health Nurse Practitioners focus on offering comprehensive mental health care services within

intensive care units, emergency departments, rehabilitation centres, and correction facilities

(Waldenu.edu, 2020). The program is more advanced over public health nursing since it focuses

on offering integrated mental health care in all community settings. The learning concepts of

psychiatric mental health nursing are comprised of advanced path physiology,

psychopharmacology, and advanced health assessment across a lifespan. Therefore, the

significant difference between Public Health Nursing and Psychiatric Mental health nursing is

determined by the amount of knowledge acquired and several services delivered to patients.

Justification statement explaining reasons for choosing MSN evidence and feedback

received from colleagues

Most people believe that Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners are limited to

work within the family setting. However, this is not the case since the program is divided into

four different specializations which include: Adult/Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner,

Adult/Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, Family Nurse Practitioner, and Psychiatric

and Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (Waldenu.edu, 2020). As mentioned earlier, enrolling a

mental health MSN program will help me diagnose and prescribe medication for people with

mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and mental health conditions. Different reasons

inspired the decision to enroll in a Mental Health Nursing MSN program. First, the ability to

work with patients from different age groups successfully will help them recover from diagnosed

mental health issues. Children, teenagers, and adults from diverse communities experience

mental health-related disorders due to a variety of factors (Duke.edu, 2020). The ability to offer

physical and mental health assessment services to patients will help ensure early diagnosis of

mental health-related illnesses. Researchers explain that most patients with depression or

anxiety-related problems are diagnosed late, which influences increased mortality rates

(Duke.edu, 2020). The second reason for enrolling to the MSN program is to promote early

diagnoses on mental health disorders among all community members. Advancing knowledge

about Mental Health Nursing will improve the physical and psychological wellbeing of all

community members despite their age.

The colleagues I have worked within different healthcare settings motivated me to enrol

the program since I practiced voluntary counseling to relatives with patients in Intensive Care

Units and emergency rooms. The ability to guide relatives and friends to patients battling chronic

illnesses successfully helped be realize the need to advance my education and become a

psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner. While working in different healthcare settings, I

realized that most community members lacked sufficient knowledge about mental health. My

colleagues stressed the importance of creating awareness and educating community groups about

existing behavioral problems and signs of mental health illnesses. This would ensure early

diagnosis of mental health disorders and decreased mortality rates.

Identify and accurately describe the professional organization associated in the profession

you have decided to choose for the assignment. Explain how you can become an active

member of the organization

Psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners require certification or approval from

different professional organizations to practice their career effectively. The first organization, a

nurse practitioner, should join is American Nurses Credentialing Centre (ANCC). The

organization is a constituent of the American Nurses Organization, which is the largest medical

certification organization. To become a member of the ANCC, one is required to have completed

a nursing program and acquired a Bachelor's degree in nursing (BSN) and completed the

NCLEX-RN successfully (Duke.edu, 2020). The starting point of the course determines the

length of time taken to complete the MSN. Certification after the MSN program requires nurse

practitioners to have worked for a minimum of five hundred clinical hours under supervision,

completed courses in advanced pharmacology, pathophysiology, psychotherapy, and advanced

health assessment.

The other professional organization associated with Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse

Practitioners is the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) (Decapua, 2017). The

organization was established to help psychiatric nurses' access to learning and professional

services. To become a member of APNA, one is required to pay membership fees according to
ACADEMIC SUCCESS AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN 5

his or her rank within the nursing profession or education level. Regular, affiliate and

international psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners are required to pay one hundred and

thirty-five USD, retired practitioners pay seventy-five USD, and student practitioners pay

twenty-five USD to acquire total membership within the American Psychiatric Nurses

Association (APNA) organization.

REFERENCES

Decapua, M. (2017) “Get to Know the American Psychiatric Nurses Association”

Healthecareers. Retrieved from: https://www.healthecareers.com/article/career/know-

american-psychiatric-nurses-association

Duke.edu. (2020) “Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner” Duke University. Retrieved

from: https://nursing.duke.edu/academic-programs/msn-master-science-

nursing/psychiatric-mental-health-nurse-practitioner

Mo.gov. (2020) “Definition of Public Health Nursing” Missouri Department of Health and

Senior services. Retrieved from:

https://health.mo.gov/living/lpha/phnursing/definition.php

Walden.edu (2020) “Which Nursing Professional Group Should I Join?” Walden University.

Retrieved from: https://www.waldenu.edu/programs/nursing/resource/professional-

groups-for-anyone-with-a-nursing-degree