MSN in Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner

HSC’s new Master of Science in Nursing in Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner degree program begins in fall 2025.

Completed primarily online, HSC’s MSN program is for professional nurses who want to grow their career as a nurse practitioner diagnosing and treating mental health conditions. The program incorporates six, 16-week-long semesters and condensed 10-week summer semesters; a part-time option is available extending the program into eight semesters.

Program details

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Duration: six semesters for full-time study (eight semesters for part-time)
Pre-requisites: Current practicing Registered Nurses who hold a Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Course Hours: 47 credit hours

The need for access to mental health care services, coupled with the opioid epidemic, and the limited supply of psychiatric care providers, creates an urgency to prepare advance practice registered nurses to fill these gaps.

HSC’s College of Nursing created the MSN-PMHNP program to address this growing need. As a baccalaureate-prepared registered nurse (BSN-RN) enrolled in our program, you’ll receive online didactic education and precepted clinical experiences across diverse health care environments including inpatient psychiatric facilities, local mental health authorities, community-based settings and through telehealth services.

Admissions Requirements

Eligibility Requirements

A bachelor’s degree in Nursing (BSN) from a regionally accredited institution with a nursing program accredited from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) or the American Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN)
Evidence of an active, unencumbered registered nurse (RN) license in a state approved through the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.
An unencumbered RN license in Texas.
Completion of a statistics course (3 semester credit hours). The course may be taken in any academic discipline; course content should include descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, sampling techniques, measures of relationships, regression models and other tests for significance.
A minimum cumulative GPA 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in the last 60 credit hours of the BSN program. Provisional admission can be offered to applicants with a GPA that falls between 2.85 and 2.99. Students admitted under provisional status must achieve a 3.0 GPA in the first three courses of the major to progress in the graduate program.
Favorable Criminal Background Check. Applicants are accepted to the College of Nursing pending a favorable criminal background check and drug screening. Accepted students are responsible for completing the background check and any associated financial costs.
Negative Drug Screening.
Out-of-state applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis and in accordance with the Board of Nursing regulations.
Holistic Admission review by committee.
The most competitive applicants will be invited for an admissions interview. Selection for interview is based on information contained in NursingCAS.

Application Requirements

All applicants are required to submit two current or former faculty or employer references. (Submitted as part of NursingCAS)
Professional resume or Curriculum vitae (CV) (Submitted as part of NursingCAS)
Official Transcripts (Unofficial not accepted) (Submitted as part of NursingCAS)
Applicants to the MSN in Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program are required to pay the NursingCAS application fee of $80.

Course Sequences