Our programs designed for nurses include:
Nurse Externship Program
Are you a nursing student? Gain hands-on nursing knowledge and skills through Sheppard Pratt’s Externship program. We offer training, employment, and enriching educational experiences to prepare nursing students for rewarding careers as registered nurses.
As an extern, you will develop the skills you need to be a great nurse, work with and learn from the best and brightest minds in the field, and gain experience in a variety of care settings, studying interesting cases and observing the latest advances in psychiatry.
Our nurse externs participate in clinical observations across a variety of disciplines and treatment modalities, attend care team meetings, get certification in Crisis Prevention Management, participate in behavioral crisis simulation, and much more.
You may have experiences in:
- One or more behavioral health specialties which can include eating disorders, trauma disorders, mood disorders, autism spectrum disorder, among others
- Neurostimulation modalities like electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
- Behavioral health crisis management through simulations
- Crisis prevention
- Shadowing nurses in leadership roles
- Attending and contributing to care team meetings
For more information or to apply for Sheppard Pratt's Nurse Externship Program, click here.
Nursing Residency Program
Sheppard Pratt’s Vizient/AACN Residency program is designed to help newly graduated nurses successfully navigate their new role with confidence, competence, and clinical experience.
As a new nurse at Sheppard Pratt, you will receive mentoring from an experienced nurse, build relationships with peers, and participate in engaging learning experiences like monthly seminars and evidence-based projects in a supportive environment. Our curriculum will increase your ability to:
- Use effective decision-making skills
- Provide clinical nursing leadership when administering care
- Incorporate research-based evidence into practice
- Strengthen professional commitment to nursing
- Formulate an individualized professional development plan
All nurse residents work on an inpatient unit in one of Sheppard Pratt’s two behavioral health hospitals located in Towson, Md. and Elkridge, Md. You’ll gain unparalleled experience working with psych populations across our adult, geriatric, and child and adolescent service lines, as well as specialty services like trauma disorders, eating disorders, and neuropsychiatry.
For more information or to apply for Sheppard Pratt's Nurse Residency Program, click here.
Earn a Nursing Certification
Interested in a specialty area of nursing? Getting certified will ensure you have the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully perform specialty nursing roles.
Benefits of certification
- Get recognition for your exceptional clinical skills
- Data shows that earning specialty certification is correlated with quality patient care and higher confidence
- Certification will open doors for you as you seek to advance your career
Sheppard Pratt offers a nursing certification program—through an online course, exam workbook, and Nurse Educator support—to help prepare you to take the certification exam of your choice. Sheppard Pratt nurses pay nothing for the certification exam and will be reimbursed for test preparation materials if they pass.
Additional Opportunities to Grow
Currently in school to become an RN or LPN?
Apply for Sheppard Pratt’s need-based scholarship through our ASPIRE to Nursing program. The scholarship fund will assist you with school tuition. Through the program, you will receive assistance and mentorship with school selection and application process.
Are you an RN interesting in earning your BSN?
Sheppard Pratt partners with Stevenson University to offer an RN to BSN cohort, designed to help working nurses advance their careers through earning their bachelor's degree.