President's Message
As psychiatric-mental health nurses, we are every day leaders. John Quincy Adams said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” I believe that psychiatric-mental health nurses strive to do that each day through the art and science of our recovery-oriented practice. We are bringers of hope and staunch advocates for effecting change. We are leaders because we are psychiatric-mental health nurses.(Cont'd)

In Your Own Words: Psych Nurses' Stories
This month, we hear from Army Reserve Nurse Monica Leverette: My story begins in Baghdad, Iraq. As a member of the United States Army Reserve Nurse Corp., I was deployed to Iraq from 2010-2011. Our mission was Detainee Operations. (Cont'd)

Member News
Patricia Allen writes about pharmacogenetics for US News and World Report; Angela F. Amar and L. Kathleen Sekula publish book;Sarah Carpenter develops tool to help identify psychiatric inpatients at risk for readmission; Daryl Anne Cummings explores use of a multifaceted intervention to reduce elopements; Berthilde Dufrene profiled by the County Times in Unsung Heroes; Paul J. Edick implements positive psychology techniques to reduce staff burnout; Angela McNelis appointed to the Indiana Mental Health and Addiction Services Development Program Board; R. John Repique interviewed by the Philadelphia Inquirer about Philadelphia smoking ban at psychiatric hospitals; Angela Thomas honored by the March of Dimes - Minnesota. (Learn More)

The Year in Member Bridge
This year, Member Bridge continued to be your go-to source for discussion amongst colleagues. As the year draws to a close, here are a few examples of the topics that sparked your interest:

• Career transition to psychiatric-mental health nursing. A former scientist who found his calling in  caring for persons with mental health needs reached out to colleagues for advice on making the transition to psychiatric-mental health nursing. Words of encouragement, program suggestions, and more were given to this individual to help smooth his journey to psychiatric-mental health nursing practice. (View and join the discussion here)
• Cell phone use in psychiatric care facilities. Several discussions centered on the issue of protecting client privacy in the context of the prevalence of personal electronic devices was addressed in two discussions. Participants chimed in on a myriad of aspects pertinent to cell phone usage in psychiatric care facilities, including policies and procedures, HIPAA concerns, person-centered approaches, and more. (Learn more here and here)
• Resources for training mental health techs.  A request for a sample mental health technician training program sparked an exchange of curricula and course materials in this discussion. Training approaches shared ranged from a 16 week intensive program specifically for behavioral health technicians to including the technicians in the organization’s psychiatric-mental health nursing orientation program.  (Find example course outlines, agendas, and more here.)

2015: A Big Year for APNA
Our members accomplished big things this year! We've compiled some of the highlights based on the 2015 APNA Annual Activity Report. Click here to view them.

Key Takeaways from the Annual Conference
Last month's APNA Annual Conference was the largest yet, with 1,800+ attendees gathered at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort to collaborate, learn, and celebrate psychiatric-mental health nursing. Click here for some key takeaways from the conference.

New Members: 404 New Members since September

To bolster development of a simple, inexpensive, noninvasive test that can detect the risk of Alzheimer's disease, the Alzheimer's Association, the Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome and the Global Down Syndrome Foundation are funding two studies of potential new blood tests for Alzheimer's, including one that uses just one drop of blood. Full Story

More than 205,000 nurse practitioners are currently licensed in the U.S. and that number is expected to increase to 244,000 by 2025, according to statistics released by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). According to the data, 2 of 3 patients support legislation for greater access to NP services, reported Clinical Advisor. Full Story

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Bureau of Health Workforce has released the (FY) 2016 Advanced Nursing Education (ANE) Program, HRSA-16-070. HRSA will award approximately 17 grants totaling $11 million with a program start date of July 1, 2016. The maximum award to recipients will be up to $700,000 per year. The deadline to apply to this opportunity is January 15, 2016. ANE anticipates supporting projects that implement and test creative academic-practice partnership models aimed at improving the didactic and experiential training for advanced practice nursing students in primary care settings located in underserved and rural settings. Click here for more information.

Two recent independent studies gave Ohio high marks for efforts to allow Medicaid patients to stay in home and community settings rather than in institutions, reported Cleveland.com. The studies focused on care for those needing long term support services, generally the elderly, and those needing mental health services. Full Story

At least one in five adult New Yorkers suffer from depression, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts or other psychological disorders every year, according to a report released ahead of Mayor Bill de Blaiso's new mental health initiative. New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene expects to release the plan, known as NYC Thrive, by the end of next month. It is aimed at preventing and treating psychological disorders among the city's 8.4 million residents, reported Reuters. Full Story

New research suggests a treatment regimen that combines exposure and response prevention therapy can help patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) when common drug treatment options fail, reported PsychCentral.com. Exposure and response prevention therapy is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy in which the patient is asked to confront triggers that give rise to their obsessions in order to refrain from performing the rituals in response to these obsessions. Full Story

As part of the Obama Administration’s efforts to deliver the quality behavioral health care veterans have been promised, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is working to ensure local mental health and substance abuse service agencies connect veterans to the full array of benefits available through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense. SAMHSA's Service Members, Veterans, and their Families (SMVF) Technical Assistance (TA) Center, works with states and territories to strengthen their behavioral health systems serving SMVF. Full Story 

A multifaceted intervention has reduced elopements at a psychiatric hospital in Florida. "Elopement is a problem when you are taking in patients at risk of harm to self or others. We're responsible for them. Now we've got a better handle on it," Daryl Anne Cummings, MSN, RN-BC, from University of Florida (UF) Health Shands Psychiatric Hospital, in Gainesville, told Medscape Medical News. Cummings presented her research in a poster session at the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) 29th Annual Conference. The poster won first place in the "Administration" award category. Full Story

A simple tool may help determine the risk for readmission following a psychiatric inpatient stay, according to results of a pilot study. "There is a huge need to figure out who is at high risk for psychiatric readmission. The tool we developed successfully identified patients with an elevated risk for readmission," Sarah Carpenter, APRN, from the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, MN, told Medscape Medical News. Carpenter presented the findings at the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) 29th Annual Conference. Her poster won first place in the "Practice" category. Full Story

Nursing staff on an inpatient child and adolescent psychiatric unit in Michigan hope to build resiliency and reduce burnout among coworkers through positive psychology and character strength exercises, and the effort has been well received. "I was seeing some symptoms of burnout in some of my coworkers," Paul J. Edick, BSN, RN, from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, who works on the unit, told Medscape Medical News. "I'm interested in staff burnout, turnover, and resiliency, so I thought to look at this further and also to try positive psychology techniques on the unit." Edick presented his research at the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) 29th Annual Conference, where his poster tied for second place in the "Practice" award category. Full Story

The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) has produced a four-part video series about the great work of the Commission— the premier accrediting body for baccalaureate and graduate programs in nursing and entry-to-practice nurse residency programs. These videos, featuring testimonials from CCNE constituents, emphasize the role CCNE plays in program improvement, quality assurance, and nursing professional development. Visit  www.ccneaccreditation.org to the first video in the series, Nurse Residency Programs – CCNE Accreditation.

A recent Healthcare IT News article looks at technology's role in mental health care. Full Story

Click here for the November State Legislative Activity Report, made available as a part of APNA's new legislative tracking system!

Representatives Timothy Murphy (PA) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX) made significant and positive revisions to their mental health reform legislation, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2015 (H.R. 2646). The amended legislation passed recently with a 18-12 vote in the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Health Subcommittee, and will now move on to the full Committee for consideration. Full Story

In a recent video, ANA President Pam Cipriano addresses a hard truth: Workplace violence is a problem in health care. Violence of any form should not be tolerated from any source. Nurses and employers must work together to create strategies that will shift the culture to one of civility and respect, and where violence prevention and safety measures are a priority. Click here to watch the video.

The final 2016 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule establishes separate payment for two Advanced Care Planning codes: 99497 (a CPT code for a person’s first 30-minute discussion with a Medicare-eligible health professional, resulting in completion of an advance directive) and 99498 (an add-on code for each additional 30 minutes of ACP discussion). 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.