APNA 32nd Annual Conference Call for Abstracts Deadline Monday
Nurses from all areas of psychiatric-mental health are invited to submit a proposal for presentation at the APNA Annual Conference at the Greater Columbus Convention Center
Columbus, OH, October 24-27, 2018. The submission deadline is Monday, March 5, 2018. Click here for more information.

16th Annual Clinical Psychopharmacology Institute Registration is Open
June 7-10, 2018, Hyatt Regency Baltimore on the Inner Harbor, Baltimore, MD
The APNA Clinical Psychopharmacology Institute (CPI) delivers psychopharmacology updates to professionals looking to provide the best possible care to their patients. CPI prioritizes the integration of psychopharmacology and neuroscience into clinical practice. It offers the scientific base for treatment decisions and addresses the context of care within the nurse/consumer/family relationship. Click here to register now and save with Early Bird Rates
Correction: This month's print newsletter incorrectly indicated the dates for this conference. The 16th Annual Clinical Psychopharmacology Institute will be held June 7-10, 2018 (not June 18-21). We apologize for the confusion.

Apply Now for the APNA Research Grant
The American Psychiatric Nurses Association Research Grants program provides funding to enhance scientific contributions that advance the knowledge and practice of psychiatric-mental health nursing. This year, we are accepting proposals in two categories:

• Category 1: Research studies to generate new knowledge to advance psychiatric mental health nursing
• Category 2: Evidence-based practice change or quality improvement projects to apply evidence to practice

Funded by the APNA Foundation Committee, these awards are intended to seed new investigators who are beginning their scholarly careers and vary from $1,000 - $10,000 per award. Click here for more information.

Register Now for APNA CPI West
There is still time to register for APNA Clinical Psychopharmacology West in San Diego March 17-18. Experience two days of continuing nursing education in psychopharmacology, planned for nurses, by nurses. Earn up to 10 contact hours in pharmacology. Click here to register.

For nearly 20 years, behavioral health care research has demonstrated the value of measurement-based care as a tool for improving outcomes of care, treatment or services. A new R3 Report from The Joint Commission provides in-depth rationale and evidence for a revised behavioral health care standard that became effective on January 1. The standard requires The Joint Commission’s Behavioral Health Care accredited organizations to use a standardized tool or instrument to assess outcomes of care, treatment or services. Full Story

The ANA Center for Ethics and Human Rights Advisory Board seeks public comment on the proposed position statement,  The Nurses Role in Addressing Discrimination: Protecting and Promoting Inclusive Strategies in Practice Settings, Policy, and Advocacy. The deadline for comments is March 13, 2018. Click here for more information and to submit comments.

Adding the selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) raloxifene to antipsychotic drug therapy can improve outcomes in men and women with schizophrenia, results of a systematic review and meta-analysis show. Raloxifene has been "consistently shown to be effective as an augmentation to antipsychotic medication to ameliorate psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia, reported MedScape. Full Story

Researchers have successfully reversed the formation of amyloid plaques in the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s disease, thereby improving the animals’ cognitive function. Investigators from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute discovered that gradually depleting an enzyme called BACE1 eliminates the plaques, reported PsychCentral.com. Full Story

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is publishing guidance to help broaden healthcare professionals’ understanding of medications that can be used to treat Americans with opioid use disorder (OUD). The Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) 63, “Medications for Opioid Use Disorder,” reviews the use of the three Food and Drug Administration-approved medications to treat opioid use disorders: methadone, naltrexone, and buprenorphine. Mandated by Section 303 of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (P.L. 114-198), this TIP provides guidance for healthcare professionals and addiction treatment providers on appropriate prescribing practices for these medications and effective strategies for supporting the patients utilizing medication for the treatment of OUD. TIP 63 also educates patients, families, and the general public about how OUD medications work and the benefits they offer. Full Story

The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) has launched a Tardive Dyskinesia awareness campaign. Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a condition that affects the nervous system and is often caused by long-term use of antipsychotic medications, which are a first-line treatment for schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders and which are sometimes used to treat bipolar disorder or depression. Read More

On March 1 the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) will host a webinar "Cover Up: Understanding Self-Harm" which will provide a unique insight into self-harm for those struggling with self-harm, their family members and medical professionals. Evidence-based techniques that can be used to provide support and reduce and eliminate self-harming behavior will also be discussed. Click here for more information.

For at least the next 10 years, families in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) shouldn’t have to worry about the money running out again, reported Vox.com. Senate leaders announced on Feb. 7 that, as part of a broader budget agreement, they would lengthen the six-year funding extension for CHIP that Congress passed last month to a full 10 years of funding for the program. Full Story

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has cleared the way for nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) to become prescribers and dispensers of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)–approved opioid addiction medications containing buprenorphine for opioid use disorders. The agency had been required to include these practitioners as authorized providers by the 2016 Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA). The law mandated a 3-year pilot that allowed advanced NPs and PAs who had received training to prescribe buprenorphine. A final DEA rule makes that permanent, reported MedScape. Full Story

Nearly three-quarters of Iowans believe the state’s mental-health system is in crisis or is a big problem, a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows. The poll's findings come as state leaders roll out an ambitious plan to expand mental-health services, including the addition of "access centers" for people who need immediate help. Full Story

Updated guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of depression in adolescents now endorse universal yearly screening from 12 years of age onward, reported MedScape. The new 2-part guideline, published online in Pediatrics, was developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Canadian Pediatric Society, and psychiatric associations from both countries. Full Story

The American Psychiatric Nurses Association is Accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.