Psych preceptors for NKU's NP-to-PMHNP certificate

Because you already practice as an NP, this certificate skips the advanced practice core and opens with psychiatric content: Psychopathopharmacology I and II (MSN 671 and 672), psychiatric assessment and diagnosis (MSN 673), psychotherapy (MSN 674) and management of psych-mental health disorders (MSN 675). Five 1-credit clinicals follow, MSN 664L, 665L, 667L, 668L and 669L, the same five MSN PMHNP students take.

The 2023-24 catalog called it the NP Advancement certificate. NKU links the program's psychopharmacology emphasis to its mission to address a regional opioid issue. The hours comparison page follows the change across every track.

To apply you need a valid NP license and national NP certification. The program page also lists 1,000 hours of clinical RN practice and a state and federal background check through PreCheck. There is no published cut to the clinical total for experienced NPs, so the full 750 goes on your plan. Each clinical course bills student liability insurance as a class fee, and NKU lists its readiness items, immunizations and CPR included, in your Canvas shell.

In the 2024-25 catalog, MSN 664L requires MSN 671 through 674 first, so your opening rotation begins after four psychiatric courses. NKU schedules one clinical per 7-week session, and a rotation typically totals 125 to 150 hours. MSN 669L, the last, shows 125 direct-care hours in that catalog; NKU prints no per-course number for the first four. The PMHNP clinicals page has the course detail.

Your preceptor is a PMHNP or a psychiatrist with graduate preparation and a year or more in their current role at their current degree level. They hold an active license without restrictions, work at the site, practice in an NKU-approved state and have room under NKU's student limit. Psychiatric facilities, outpatient clinics, treatment programs and inpatient psychiatric units all qualify as settings.

A psychologist, LICSW or LPCC may oversee therapy or counseling experiences, but for no more than 80 hours over the certificate. NKU's FAQ also recommends a spread of about 170 hours with children, 165 with adults and 165 with older adults, and says ANCC certification needs time in all three groups.

As a practicing NP you may already know psychiatric colleagues. They can precept you if none of NKU's exclusions apply: not a friend, relative, partner or roommate, not your supervisor or your own provider, and not currently a student in another specialty.

If you keep practicing while you study, NKU's employer rules decide where psychiatric hours can happen. Clinicals at your employer are allowed, with three limits: your own unit is excluded, your immediate supervisor can't serve as preceptor, and any hour you're paid for doesn't count.

In practice that points to a psychiatric service elsewhere in your organization, or a separate practice on days you don't work. Preceptors commit two or three days each week to a student, so settle those days with your own employer before each session opens. See employer sites for how NKU applies the three conditions.

With one clinical per 7-week session, the five rotations take at least five sessions in a row, which on NKU's calendar covers most of a year. Map them together: which preceptor covers which session, where pediatric, adult and geriatric patients fall, and which practice needs an affiliation agreement started early.

During each rotation you log hours in Medatrax and your preceptor verifies them weekly; once verified, entries can't be edited. At the end of the term the preceptor completes an evaluation there too. Current logs make the handoff from one preceptor to the next clean and keep your age-group counts visible. The hour logs page covers the details.

The NP-to-PMHNP sits on NKU's NP admission list, which takes applicants only from Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. Illinois, Michigan and Nevada are the non-compact states in that group. Preceptors must practice in NKU-approved states. NP admission states has the dates behind the list.

Each clinical becomes a self-placement request in Medatrax, filed 30 days before the session at minimum and 90 by NKU's recommendation. The preceptor supplies a resume and license, signs NKU's Preceptor Responsibilities form and opens a Preceptor Profile in Medatrax. A practice without an NKU agreement needs a contact person you hand to NKU. Medatrax sends the official approval once all three portions of the review clear.

You know how to work with a preceptor; what you lack is time to find five of them. A placement advisor locates PMHNP and psychiatrist preceptors near you whose clinic days fit around your NP schedule, outside your own unit and chain of command, with pediatric, adult and geriatric patients spread across the five clinicals.

We collect each preceptor's documents and the site contact so every Medatrax request is complete and early. NKU makes each approval decision; we hand it a file with nothing left to chase. If a preceptor steps away mid-certificate, the replacement search starts right away. Compare with the post-master's PMHNP, or tell us about your plans through the form.