2019 APNA Annual Awards Recipients Announced
Congratulations to the nine inspirational nurses and one chapter receiving APNA Annual Awards this year. The APNA Annual Awards recognize APNA members who demonstrate excellence in psychiatric-mental health nursing practice, education, research, leadership, community efforts, and more. This year's recipients will be recognized at the APNA 33rd Annual Conference, online, and in communications throughout the year. Click here to learn more about the recipients.

Introducing the 2019 APNA Board of Directors Student Scholars
Your APNA Board of Directors is excited to welcome the next generation of psychiatric-mental health nursing leaders: the 2019 Class of APNA Board of Directors Student Scholars! These 30 students will attend the APNA 33rd Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA this October 2-5, and receive complimentary membership to APNA for one year. These opportunities will allow them to form invaluable connections with psychiatric-mental health nurses at all levels. Click here to see a list of the recipients.

Don't Forget to Vote
Let your voice be heard by casting your vote for the new members of the APNA Board of Directors and Nominating Committee. Familiarize yourself with the candidates by clicking here or click here to cast your vote. Hurry, the deadline to vote is July 1.

APNA 33rd Annual Conference Registration is Now Open
Come together with nurses passionate about psychiatric-mental health at the APNA 33rd Annual Conference, October 2-5, 2019 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, LA. You’ll update your practice with 100+ varied sessions presented by colleagues, connect with 1600+ psychiatric-mental health RNs and APRNs and earn CE - 123+ contact hours in person and online. Click here for more information and to register.

The suicide rate in the United States continues to climb, with a rate in 2017 that was 33% higher than in 1999, reported CNN. Suicide rates among people 15 to 64 increased significantly during that period, rising from 10.5 per 100,000 people in 1999 to 14 per 100,000 in 2017, according to annual research published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. Full Story

As many as 1 in 4 nurses experience PTSD at some point in their careers. A recent Atlanta Journal Constitution article looks at what can be done to help. Full Story

The American Nurses Association is looking for qualified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners to help with updating publications, certification review courses and practice questions. Qualifications:

• Must be master’s prepared with the certification of PMHNP-BC and current practice in the specialty. Current practice is working in the role or teaching/supporting others in the role.
• Cannot have worked with ANCC Measurement Services within the past 2 years.
• Must have access to quality references and resources.

If you are interested, please complete an application by clicking here and forward your completed application to conf@ana.org.

Estrogen therapy in women ages 50 to 63 has been shown to affect the metabolic processes associated with later development of Alzheimer’s disease and may offer an opportunity to prevent or delay the disease, according to a presenter at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting. Full Story

Behavioral health needs are going unmet in as many as one-third of the nation’s nursing homes, while almost half employ staff without adequate behavioral health education, reported McKnight's Long-term Care Review. Those were the major implications culled from a study of nearly 1,100 facilities conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. They surveyed the randomly selected facilities during a six-month period in 2017, asking questions about available behavioral health services availability, quality, satisfaction, staffing, staff education, turnover and service barriers. Full Story

Allergan Plc’s Vraylar won U.S. regulatory approval to treat depressive episodes of bipolar I disorder, making it a treatment option for a full spectrum of the condition’s cyclical symptoms. Vraylar is an approved treatment in the United States for schizophrenia in adults and for manic or mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder, reported Reuters. Full Story

La Salle University’s School of Nursing and Health Sciences (SONHS) announced the addition of the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) Program to its Graduate Nursing Programs. The MSN PMHNP Program will begin Summer 2019. The start date for the Post-MSN PMHNP certificate program will be announced soon. Full Story

People can side-by-side suffer the exact same trauma—yet only one will develop PTSD. Researchers are zeroing in why, according to a Reader's Digest article. One potential reason only certain people develop PTSD after childhood trauma may be a faulty hormonal response to stress, suggests a 2019 study published in the journal Archives of Psychiatric Nursing. The stress-related hormone cortisol climbs when you’re under duress; soon after, levels of the feel-good hormone oxytocin rise, helping you calm back down. Researchers at the University of Missouri-Colombia found that some women (the study only included women) with PTSD didn’t get that oxytocin bump to bring them back to normal. Full Story

U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy and Chris Murphy, members of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, recently introduced the Mental Health Parity Compliance Act of 2019, reported The Franklin Sun. The legislation improves transparency and accountability to help consumers have access to mental health and substance use services included in their plans. It would strengthen compliance with mental health parity laws by requiring issuers or plans to submit comparative analyses upon request from federal oversight agencies. Full Story

In California Assembly Bill 1051 passed and is headed to the state Senate, reported The Signal. AB 1051 is a measure that looks to boost the recruitment and retention of nursing faculty in community colleges. Under current rigorous standards for nursing programs, faculty quickly exceed the course load cap, which leads to high instructor turnover rates and a loss of continuity for students’ classroom and clinical education. As a result, the bill seeks to establish an exemption that would allow clinical nursing faculty to exceed the 67% course load gap for part-time faculty. Full Story

A bill making its way through the California legislature seeks to establish 100 youth drop-in centers across the state to support young people with mental health, substance use and physical health issues, reported California Health Report. Senate Bill 12 seeks to create the centers under a new initiative called the Integrated Youth Mental Health Program. The drop-in centers would provide one-stop support for young people ages 12 to 25 who are unable or too embarrassed to seek help in a traditional medical or school setting. Full Story

At the beginning of this year, the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants predicted that the reform of scope of practice, supervision, and delegation of authority legislation would be a top trend regarding physician assistants. The NCCPA's expectation seems to be correct as more states are pushing for legislation to expand scope of practice for advanced practice practitioners. A recent HealthLeaders article looks at scope of practice issues across the country. Full Story

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