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Seven years ago, Rona Balicas Divinagracia earned her bachelor of science in nursing in the Philippines. Now she’s about to graduate with a master’s in nursing from the only U.S. school at which she’s ever studied. But this isn’t just any master’s degree.

Divinagracia is one of the 16 students in the inaugural class of UNLV Nursing's psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program. She and her cohort are part of an advanced nursing track that’s addressing mental health issues and the stigma that can come with them.

With the first class ready to make UNLV history, Divinagracia and faculty reflect on what makes this program so unique and essential to Southern Nevada health care.

Increasing Nurse Practitioner Specialization

The UNLV Psych NP program began fall 2021, but had been in discussion for years before as the School of Nursing identified a clear need in the Southern Nevada community for a psychiatric nurse practitioner program. Nevada, especially, has struggled with having enough psychiatric providers for patients in rapidly growing communities.

Roseann Colosimo, UNLV Nursing associate professor in residence explains, “The need in Las Vegas and Nevada is very great. People can wait three to four months to get an appointment with a psychiatrist. That increases the number of hospitalized patients waiting for outpatient treatment.” 

Psych nurse practitioners are specifically educated and certified to diagnose, treat, and manage serious mental health conditions within the full scope of their practice. This includes the ability to perform psychotherapy and prescribe higher levels of psychiatric medications.

Reimund Serafica, professor and board-certified psych nurse practitioner, teaches the clinical component of the program. He says the ongoing need is driving specialization in nurse practitioner programs. “Some family nurse practitioners have also switched to the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner specialty because of the growing demand for more providers,” he explains. “This trend allows schools to offer this specialty program in addition to the existing ones.”  

Serafica is optimistic on the program’s future, especially with enrollment trending upward. “We are looking for more clinical sites and preceptors that will provide our students with more opportunities in terms of outpatient clinics, in-patient psychiatric agencies, substance disorder treatment facilities, and others," he says.

Colosimo adds that the increase in admissions will allow UNLV Nursing to offer specialty courses or training in trauma-informed care, forensic nursing, and integrated mental health.

Celebrating the First Graduates

Although Divinagracia is honored to be part of the first Psych NP graduating cohort and feels a sense of responsibility to the program. “Since we are the first cohort, we need to perform well,” she says.  “We're not just going out there working for our name, we're also working for the name and reputation of the school.”

She sees herself eventually owning her own clinic with therapists to balance out the pharmacological with therapeutic patient treatments. But Divinagracias’ long-term goals are more than just career-based.  She wants to help spur conversations about mental health. “I want people to be comfortable with talking about it,” she says. "It's like having the flu. Most of us will get the flu. We'll see a provider for that. I hope it will be like that with mental health, too. I hope I'll be able to not just educate but also set an example.”

Serafica also looks proudly at the progress the Psych NP program has made in one year. “We have seasoned faculty dedicated to educating and training future psych NPs. We have skilled and knowledgeable preceptors who are committed to our students to learn and provide them with clinical opportunities and exposure to be excellent Psych NPs. To see our first cohort graduates this December is very rewarding.”