Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses

Assess, diagnose, and treat individuals and families with mental health or substance use disorders or the potential for such disorders. Apply therapeutic activities, including the prescription of medication, per state regulations, and the administration of psychotherapy.

Most important skills

Active Listening
Social Perceptiveness
Speaking
Reading Comprehension
Writing
Critical Thinking
Monitoring
Judgment and Decision Making

Key knowledge

Psychology
Therapy and Counseling
English Language
Medicine and Dentistry
Biology
Sociology and Anthropology
Education and Training
Customer and Personal Service

What the work involves

Participate in activities aimed at professional growth and development, including conferences or continuing education activities.
Develop practice protocols for mental health problems, based on review and evaluation of published research.
Develop, implement, or evaluate programs such as outreach activities, community mental health programs, and crisis situation response activities.
Write prescriptions for psychotropic medications as allowed by state regulations and collaborative practice agreements.
Refer patients requiring more specialized or complex treatment to psychiatrists, primary care physicians, or other medical specialists.
Provide routine physical health screenings to detect or monitor problems such as heart disease and diabetes.
Participate in treatment team conferences regarding diagnosis or treatment of difficult cases.
Interpret diagnostic or laboratory tests, such as electrocardiograms (EKGs) and renal functioning tests.

Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Investigative, Conventional.

Qualifications and licensing

Most common education

Master's Degree (87% of respondents)

Related experience

Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (40.9%)

On-the-job training

Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (31.8%)

Preparation level

O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed

Licensing

License required (national summary): Registered nurses must have a nursing license issued by the state in which they work: graduate from an approved nursing program and pass a qualifying exam; other requirements vary by state (state board of nursing). source (checked 2026-10-25)

Check before planning

Projection education uses SOC 29-1141 (detailed_parent); it may describe a broader group.

Limits

Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections; State licensing authorities (curated, see evidence links) · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0

Work environment

How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).

Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.

Rankings compare typical U.S. occupation-level work conditions; individual jobs and employers vary. Data: O*NET 31.0 Work Context and BLS wages (May 2025).
Condition	Level	Compared with other occupations	Most common answer (O*NET survey)
Contact with others	High	Higher on contact with others than 63% of occupations compared	59% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others”
Dealing with the public	Moderate	Lower on dealing with the public than 55% of occupations compared	39% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important”
Teamwork	Low	Lower on teamwork than 76% of occupations compared	36% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important”
Freedom to make decisions	Very high	Higher on freedom to make decisions than 90% of occupations compared	78% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom”
Time pressure	Very high	Higher on time pressure than 84% of occupations compared	57% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day”
Conflict situations	Very high	Higher on conflict situations than 81% of occupations compared	30% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day”
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people	Very high	Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 91% of occupations compared	35% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day”
Consequence of error	High	Higher on consequence of error than 72% of occupations compared	39% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious”

Work-pressure profile

Time pressure: very high
Conflict situations: very high
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
Consequence of error: high

Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.

Full answer distributions

Contact with others

No contact with others: 0%
Occasional contact with others: 0%
Contact with others about half the time: 4.55%
Contact with others most of the time: 36.36%
Constant contact with others: 59.09%

n = 22, Occupational Expert 08/2023