APNA Annual Conference - Sept. 30 - Oct. 4
The APNA Annual Conference is the single best source for the crucial conversations & updates you need to provide the best possible care. This year, you'll have the opportunity to earn more than 120 contact hours total. Register now to come together virtually with nurses from across the country this fall! 

New Resource for All Nurses: SBIRT Pocket Card
Nurses across disciplines can use Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral and Treatment (SBIRT) to increase access to substance use disorder treatment for those who need it - and APNA and the Opioid Response Network have developed a new resource to help. Created by experts from the APNA Addictions Council, the guide includes a suggested script, a list of resources, and space to add local contacts. Click here to download.

New Self-Assessment Tool & Resources
With a new Nurse Stress Self-Assessment Tool available through The Well-Being Initiative, you can check in with yourself and get tailored resources recommended by psychiatric-mental health nurse experts. Because your needs in the moment will not necessarily be the same as another nurse's, this tool offers categorized options based on individual preferences. It only takes a few moments to check in and get resources to help you address your level of stress. Click here to get started.

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has released a new evidence-based practice guideline for the treatment of schizophrenia. The guideline focuses on assessment and treatment planning, which are integral to patient-centered care, and includes recommendations regarding pharmacotherapy, with particular focus on clozapine, as well as previously recommended and new psychosocial interventions. Full Story

The American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APAF), the philanthropic and educational arm of APA, joins a new public-private partnership launched by the National Institute of Health (NIH) that is aimed at meeting the urgent need for early therapeutic interventions for people at risk of developing schizophrenia. It is part of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) that promotes development of effective, targeted treatments. Full Story

On Sept. 1 the American Nurses Association (ANA) released new findings from a nationwide COVID-19 survey that indicate personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages persist and re-use practices for single-use PPE are on the rise, despite a lack of standard practices and evidence of safety. According to the new findings, 42% of nurses say they are still experiencing widespread or intermittent PPE shortages. Findings on PPE re-use and decontamination showed little improvement. Over half of nurses (+15% from May) report that they are re-using single-use PPE, like N95 masks, for five or more days and 68% say reuse is required by their facility’s policy. The decontamination of N95 masks is a practice that 38% of nurses say continues. Full Story

The 2021 Application Program and Guidance for the National Health Service Corps Students to Service Loan Repayment Program (NHSC S2S LRP) is now open and includes new nursing disciplines. In response to health workforce needs for quality primary and maternity care, the FY21 program includes Nurse Practitioners (NPs) and Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs).NHSC S2S LRP applicants may qualify for up to $120,000 in tax-free loan repayment for their medical, nursing and dental school student loans. Eligible health professional students in their final year of school receive the award in exchange for a three-year service commitment in a high-need (HPSA 14 or above) rural, tribal, or urban community. Click here for more information. The application cycle closes on November 5 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The annual survey is the nation’s primary resource for data on mental health and substance use among Americans. Full Story

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is distributing the first-year funds of its two-year State Opioid Response (SOR) and Tribal Opioid Response (TOR) grant programs. The two programs ultimately will award nearly $3 billion over two years to help states and tribes provide community-level resources for people in need of prevention, treatment and recovery support services. Full Story

As many as 3 in 4 older adults with dementia have been prescribed drugs that may pose a risk to them, researchers report. The drugs in the study included commonly prescribed medications that can affect the brain or nervous system, such as sedatives, painkillers and antidepressants, reported HealthDay.com. Full Story

The clinical trials investigating 16 promising therapies for Alzheimer’s and dementia are taking off thanks to $24 million in new grant funding from the Alzheimer’s Association’s Part the Cloud global research grant program and Bill Gates. With this new funding, research teams from around the world will explore high risk, high reward therapies that focus on how brain cells use energy and fuel, how brain cells remove waste and debris from the brain, and how blood supply in the brain is maintained. The group of grants includes both experimental drugs and devices, and a mix between phase one and phase two trials. Full Story

Researchers have developed a new artificial intelligence algorithm that can accurately diagnose Alzheimer’s by detecting subtle differences in language, reported PsychCentral.com. According to researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology, the algorithm promises to accurately diagnose Alzheimer’s without the need for expensive scans or in-person testing. In fact, they say the software not only can diagnose Alzheimer’s, at negligible cost, with more than 95% accuracy, it is also capable of explaining its conclusions, allowing physicians to double check the accuracy of its diagnosis. Full Story

Talking robots that interact with older people could be introduced into care homes to help fight loneliness and mental ill health, reported CNN. Pepper, a "culturally competent robot," was tested on care home residents in Britain and Japan and those who interacted with it for up to 18 hours over the course of two weeks saw a significant improvement in their mental health, researchers found. Full Story

For decades, the White Bird Clinic in Eugene, OR, has been running a mobile crisis intervention program, called CAHOOTS, or Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets. The CAHOOTS program works within the local public safety system to provide interventions to individuals experiencing mental health crises. In the hopes of making the CAHOOTS model easier to replicate across the country, Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) have introduced the CAHOOTS Act, which will grant states enhanced Medicaid funding to provide community-based mobile crisis services, reported PsychiatricNews.com. Full Story

Californians with severe mental illness are cycling in-and-out of forced psychiatric holds due to a lack of treatment options when they’re released, according to a report from the state auditor. The report looks at the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, the California law that governs involuntary mental health treatment for people deemed a threat to themselves or others, or who cannot meet their own basic needs due to a mental illness, reported CapRadio.org. Full Story

Digital health technologies such as mobile health, wearable sensors, telemedicine, and information technologies have been incorporated into some aspects of patient care; however, these advances have yet to be integrated into standard clinical management or intervention. These findings, derived from responses to a survey, were presented at Psych Congress 2020 Virtual Experience, reported PsychiatryAdvisor.com. Full Story

Click here to see letters APNA has signed on to as a part of its participation in coalitions that further policy for nursing and mental health.

The American Psychiatric Nurses Association is accredited with distinction as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.