Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Residency Program

The PMHNP Residency Program Track, one track of the VAGLAHS Nurse Practitioner Residency Program, is supported and funded by the National VA Office of Academic Affiliations. It is affiliated with California State University Long Beach School of Nursing Psychiatric DNP Program and the University of California Los Angeles School of Nursing.

This is a 12 month paid residency program that combines clinical experience (80%) and didactic training (20%). PMHNP residents will be exposed to residency sites in community, ambulatory, and inpatient specialty rotations, providing a well-rounded exposure to veteran care and evidenced based treatment.  Didactics are provided weekly within the NP residency program. VA OAA PMHNP residency leaders nationally collaborate regularly to advance residency programs in keeping with the VA mission and Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education accreditation (CCNE) guidelines.   

PMHNP Residency Program Track Mission Statement

The VAGLAHS PMHNP Residency Program will prepare the next generation of PMHNPs to practice along the continuum of care from community to ambulatory and tertiary settings. Residents will align with psychiatry, psychology, nursing, social work, pharmacy, internal medicine, geriatric and family nurse practitioner residents and fellows at multiple sites for a true multidisciplinary experience. They will grow with their colleagues and develop relationships that will support their practice in the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner professional role. They will be given the tools they need to provide our veterans with cutting edge diagnosis and treatment with personalized care. This program will enhance the Veterans Administration mission to provide excellent, evidence-based care to our nation’s heroes in the 21st century.

History

The VAGLAHS PMHNP Residency Program grant was awarded in late 2022.  The first cohort of three residents began in August of 2023, and graduated in August of 2024, at the same time as the other NP Residents with specialties in Geriatrics and Primary Care.   PMHNP residents were welcomed by the HPACT as well as other specialty areas, including nursing, psychiatry, psychology, and other team disciplines. The second PMHNP resident cohort began in August of 2024. 

Training Experiences, Supervision and Didactics

The clinical experiences will include managing a psychiatry NP panel of homeless and vulnerable veterans in a supportive interprofessional team, with supervision by experienced PMHNPs and Psychiatrists,  as well as clinical experiences in street medicine, psychiatry specialties, and electives to augment advanced clinical knowledge. 

Primary Practice Site, Didactics and Clinical Placements

The primary practice site and continuity clinic is held at the Homeless Patient Aligned Care Team, where residents will be guided by experienced PMHNPs and Psychiatrists to provide excellent evidence based treatment to homeless veterans.  The PMHNP residency program is affiliated with the Center of Education for Interprofessional Academic Homeless Patient Aligned Care Teams (CoE IA HPACT), an innovative residency program that began in 2011. The purpose of the CoE IA HPACT is to prepare the next generation of health professionals to care for vulnerable patients in a way that builds patients’ self-efficacy while meeting their social, psychological, and physical needs, with empathy and teamwork as a member of an interprofessional PACT team within the VA healthcare system. The PMHNP residents will also engage in interprofessional training at several Psychiatry and Subspecialty Clinics.  Once established at the HPACT clinic, Psychiatric NP Residents at VAGLAHS will enhance PMHNP skills for clinical care of veterans at the Mental Health Clinic, Primary Care Mental  Health Integration (PCMHI), Geriatric Psychiatry, Rural Mental Health Telecare, Street Medicine,  the Psychiatric Emergency Room, Inpatient Psychiatry, and Consult Liaison Services. Shared Psychiatry/PMHNP didactics in addition to HPACT COE and the NP Residency classes include: Primary Care Mental Health Integration, Substance Use Disorder, and Consult-Liaison Services.  Residents will also receive didactic training in Integrative Health and Healing (IHH) with a multidisciplinary staff.

Special Projects

Residents will participate in Quality Assurance projects within the HPACT clinic with an interdisciplinary team with a goal of sharing with other professionals by publication or presentation.  They will present case conferences, teach, review research articles and present to the journal club and have a host of educational experiences available to them above and beyond the residency program provided by local and national VA providers and trainers.

PMHNP Residency Candidates

VAGLAHS NP Residency Program PMHNP Track is seeking knowledgeable, empathetic new PMHNP graduates within the past year to participate in the residency program, who have not practiced as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner previously.  

Please visit the Nurse Residency Program page for extensive information on the application process and other FAQs. Once this information has been reviewed, please contact the Program Director with further questions.

Email application packet to Program Director at Jane.Luetchens2@va.gov