Our Services

how is a psychiatric nurse practitioner different from a psychiatrist?

Psychiatric nurse practitioners and psychiatrists have several similarities. Both are specially trained to assess, diagnose, and treat patients with mental health conditions. They may also prescribe medication. Additionally, both psychiatric nurse practitioners and psychiatrists must be licensed to practice.

​

However, the differences between the two include education/training and scope of practice. Psychiatrists attend medical school to become physicians, and then attend a residency to specialize in psychiatry. Psychiatric nurse practitioners attend nursing school, and then earn a master’s, or doctorate degree to specialize as a nurse practitioner. Not all states allow nurse practitioners to practice autonomously, as some require nurse practitioners to work under a medical doctor. 

​

In theory and practice, medical school and nursing school are each based on a foundational model of care. Both models include empathic care that seeks to treat the cause of a patient’s illness, but each one differs slightly. The medical model of care focuses heavily on the physical and biological details of the patient’s condition. The nursing model of care is a holistic approach that not only focuses on the patient’s medical problems, but also how their social, cultural, and economic needs may be affecting their health. 

​

Patients can receive the same therapeutic benefits from a psychiatric nurse practitioner as they can from a psychiatrist, which means that patients don’t need to choose between seeing a psychiatrist or a nurse practitioner.