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Located within Peak Vista Community Health Centers, our APRN Fellowship includes a new Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) program. The PMNHP Fellowship offers five full-time employed positions for transitioning or recently graduated licensed APRNs who desire to increase their practice competence and confidence in a progressive, collaborative learning environment.
The 12-month program combines mentorship, problem-based learning, and hands-on clinical experience. The PMNHP Fellowship’s experiences are primarily in the Integrated Fellowship clinic and host unique rotations within Peak Vista which complements the program. The Fellowship includes out-rotations with Inpatient, Crisis, Developmental Disabilities Health Center, and Primary Care.
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To provide exceptional health care to people facing access barriers and to provide exceptional opportunities for recently graduated Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) to transition seamlessly from the academic to the clinical setting, and to facilitate the transition to practice for experienced Nurse Practitioners who have been out of the workforce or in another specialty.
Peak Vista Community Health Centers' APRN Fellowships are focused on enhancing the health of people and the community-at-large through a professional, caring staff who are motivated, enthusiastic, respectful, energetic and committed to strategic partnerships and a team approach to health care.
Postgraduate APRN Fellowships have been recommended by the Future of Nursing Report (2020) as a method to seamlessly transition recently graduated APRNs into the clinical setting. Peak Vista offers a PMHNP Fellowship as part of an effort to improve health care access for people facing barriers to care. The Fellowship provides mentored guidance, practice oversight, and a gradual increase in daily patient encounters, which allows Fellows to improve their confidence and competence in a supportive environment. Problem-based learning in the clinical setting is the cornerstone of the Fellowship program.
Didactic sessions are diverse and focus on professional and clinical issues pertinent to the psychiatry setting. Content is provided in a variety of ways including lectures, workshops, case studies, and round table discussions. Fellows complete a group QI project focused on improving clinical practice.
As licensed and certified PMHNPs in the state of Colorado, all new learners at Fellowship possess a full and independent scope of practice to provide care for patients across the lifespan. The Fellowship is philosophically oriented around Benner’s Novice to Expert Model and draws from three two main sources to help describe the standards of psychiatry for new learners: the NeuroScience Education Institute (NEI, 2024) and the psychiatry standards that are adapted from the American Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) competencies. Self-evaluated and preceptor-evaluated competencies are derived from modified ACGME Psychiatry Milestone competencies (2021) which align with the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Graduate level competencies (2012), and the National Academy of Medicine Committee on The Future of Nursing 2020-2030.
Both Fellowship programs combine precepted interdisciplinary clinical immersion, relevant post-graduate didactic, and self-directed population management QI activities.
The goals of the Fellowship programs are:
Increase access to quality health care for communities by assisting recently graduated APRNs to transition seamlessly to the practice setting.
Nurture the confidence and competence of transitioning APRNs in the primary care setting and outpatient psychiatry setting (or 'in safety net practice settings'), thereby improving APRN and employer satisfaction.
Improve APRN retention in the safety net clinic settings such as federally qualified health centers.
Immerse APRNs in a collaborative and interdisciplinary model of integrated primary care and vulnerable populations care consistent with the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine.
Facilitate professional development and life-long learning through continued population-focused interdisciplinary education and quality assessment/improvement appropriate to the primary care and outpatient psychiatry setting.
Provide mandated hours of precepted prescriptive practice experience as required by the Colorado Board of Nursing and Department of Regulatory Agencies.
The APRN Fellowships are a 12-month, full-time salaried position with a competitive benefits package.
When do the APRN Fellowships begin?
Generally, the Fellowships begin the first or second week in September. The Fellows spend twelve months in an immersive, clinical environment, completing the program September of the following year.
How many Fellows will be in the program?
Each Fellowship accepts 5 Fellows per program every year.
Who can apply for the Fellowship?
The programs are designed for transitioning or recently graduated licensed FNPs and PMHNPs who will be certified and licensed by the start of the program.
Will APRN Fellows see patients while in this program?
Yes, as licensed medical professionals, the APRN Fellows will see Peak Vista patients seeking primary medical care or psychiatric care.
Where is the APRN Fellowship located?
The APRN Fellowship is based in the Health Center at Printers Parkway, 340 located at 340 Printers Pkwy, Colorado Springs, CO 80910
How do I learn more about the program?
To learn more about the Primary Care Fellowship program, please e-mail APRNFellowship@peakvista.org, and to learn more about the PMHNP program, email PMHNP_Fellowship@peakvista.org