The PMH-BC is the psychiatric-mental health nursing credential for registered nurses, from the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
Eligibility
- A current, active registered nurse licence.
- Two years of full-time practice as a registered nurse.
- A minimum of 2,000 hours of clinical practice in psychiatric-mental health nursing within the last three years.
- 30 hours of continuing education in the specialty within the same period.
Term: five years.
Renewal
Renewal requires 75 contact hours of continuing education in psychiatric-mental health nursing within the five-year cycle, at least 60 of which must be formally approved, plus at least one additional professional development category — academic credit, presentations, publication, preceptorship, professional service, 1,000 or more practice hours in the specialty, or re-examination.
The alternative is to retake and pass the current examination.
Not the same as the nurse practitioner credential
PMH-BC is a registered nurse specialty certification. It is voluntary, it does not expand scope, and it attests to expertise in psychiatric nursing practice.
PMHNP-BC is the psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner certification, covering the lifespan. It is an advanced practice credential requiring graduate education, and it is a condition of state licensure for the role rather than an optional extra.
The second is one of the fastest-growing advanced practice roles in the country, driven by a shortage of psychiatrists, the expansion of telehealth, and the fact that the role can both prescribe and provide therapy. See nurse practitioners and psychiatric-mental health nursing.
Older adult and child-adolescent psychiatric clinical nurse specialist certifications exist, several now maintained for renewal only. See clinical nurse specialists.
What it is worth
Hiring, in inpatient psychiatric units, crisis services, and community mental health.
Standing in a specialty with a wide practice range. Psychiatric nursing spans inpatient units, emergency and crisis work, addiction treatment, consultation-liaison, correctional facilities, and community teams, and the credential is one of the few things that reads consistently across all of them. See correctional nursing.
Leverage in a tight market. Behavioural health has the highest turnover of any nursing specialty at 22.5 percent, which means employers are recruiting constantly and certified candidates are scarce.
Who should take it
Psychiatric nurses with the practice hours. It is also worth considering for nurses in general settings who are effectively doing psychiatric work — emergency departments boarding patients in crisis, and pediatric units managing adolescent mental health presentations — though the 2,000-hour requirement is specific to psychiatric-mental health practice and general floor hours will not satisfy it.
Related
Sources
- Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Certification — American Nurses Credentialing Center, on eligibility, the five-year term, and renewal requirements. Accessed September 9, 2026.
- Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (Across the Lifespan) Certification — American Nurses Credentialing Center. Accessed September 9, 2026.
- National Health Care Retention and RN Staffing Report — NSI Nursing Solutions, 2026 edition, for turnover by specialty. Accessed September 9, 2026.