Recent graduates of Walsh University’s Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program have achieved a 100 percent first-time pass rate on their national accrediting examination, the North Canton university announced Thursday, November 5, in a release distributed by GlobeNewswire. The result, earned by graduates of the Byers School of Nursing in Walsh’s College of Health Sciences, means every recent graduate in the program passed on the first attempt.
The examination is administered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, according to the Walsh University release distributed by GlobeNewswire. Graduates who pass earn the credential Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner-Board Certified, known as PMHNP-BC, which validates their preparation to provide psychiatric and mental-health care across the lifespan and is generally a key step, along with state requirements, toward advanced-practice nursing authorization.
The perfect score arrives as Ohio faces a shortage of both nurses and mental health practitioners while the state experiences a rising need for mental health care, Walsh University said in its GlobeNewswire release. The program is fully online and prepares registered nurses with the advanced skills needed to fill those critical roles in Ohio’s workforce and beyond, according to the release.
“With mental health care at the forefront of health care these days, this 100% pass rate exemplifies how graduates of our program are exceptionally well-prepared to enter the workforce to fill these critically needed roles in the nursing profession,” Kim Cleveland, dean of Walsh University’s College of Health Sciences, said in the Walsh University release distributed by GlobeNewswire. Cleveland said in the same release that the program equips graduates to provide mental and behavioral health care to individuals, families and groups throughout their lifespans in a variety of settings.
Cleveland also said in the Walsh University release distributed by GlobeNewswire that Walsh offers an affordable, flexible curriculum that makes it easier for working nurses to obtain the advanced degree in as few as two or three years. That flexibility is central to the online Master of Science in Nursing program, which allows registered nurses to keep working while they study.
Walsh University, at 2020 East Maple Street in North Canton, is an independent, co-educational Catholic institution, according to the release. It serves 2,192 students from 42 states and 36 countries, teaching students to become leaders in service to others.
For Stark County and wider Northeast Ohio, the graduates add directly to a strained behavioral health workforce. Walsh did not release the size of the graduating group, but a perfect pass rate signals its graduates can move into practice without the delay of a retake.
What happens next is credentialing and placement: the newly passed graduates can use the PMHNP-BC credential as they complete Ohio’s advanced-practice requirements and seek roles providing psychiatric and mental-health care. Working nurses interested in the program can find details through Walsh University’s Psychiatric-Mental Health Master of Science in Nursing program page, linked in the university’s GlobeNewswire release.
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