President's Message: My Theme: What it is, What it Means, How it Applies to You
What is health equity? Simply, it’s the opportunity for all groups of people to be as healthy as possible. It follows, then, that for us as a nation to achieve health equity, we must ensure that all groups receive equal access to care that enables them to lead full and healthy lives. (See Linda Beeber's theme for her term as President)

Nurses in Action: Jacqueline Gunning, MSN, RN, Inspires Behavioral Health Nursing Award
This year, Jacqueline "Jackie" Gunning, MSN, RN, retired after more than a decade as a psychiatric-mental health nurse leader at Baptist Health. Her passion for the delivery of compassionate care to individuals with mental health concerns helped pave the way for the development and expansion of a 34-bed adult inpatient psychiatric unit at Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville in 2008. (Read More)

Member News
Mary Ann Boyd named finalist for March of Dimes' Nurse of the Year Award; Ginette Ferszt inducted as Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing; Angela Goodson profiled by the Oakland Press; Michelle Heyland pens op ed on mental illness after violent events; Wanda Lancaster discusses the newly established ECU PMHNP Program; Bernadette Melnyk awarded NIH grant for interventions for pregnant minority women, publishes study linking depression in nurses to medical errors; Lora Peppard profiled by George Mason University; Andrea Warner Stidham and Kimberly Williams awarded $1.1 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration. (Learn More)

Your Bylaws, Your Vote
The APNA Board of Directors heard your requests for more opportunities for member involvement at the national level and more support for APNA Chapters. They are therefore proposing a few amendments to the APNA bylaws and they need your vote!. Get more information about the amendments and cast your vote here.

The Power of Mentorship: How One Nurse Found Her Answer with APNA Mentor Match
After practicing mental health nursing for a decade or more Jenna Anderson, RN, found herself at a decision point. Was she ready to take on the challenge of additional schooling to become an NP? (Read More)

CPI West: Register Now!
Save 20% when you register by February 20th for the newest expansion of the APNA Clinical Psychopharmacology Institute, CPI West! Get away to sunny San Diego March 17-18 for two days of psychopharmacology continuing education planned for nurses, by nurses alongside enriching interactions with psychiatric-mental health nurses. Register now!

Inspiration and Insight: APNA 31st Annual Conference Recap
More than 1700 psychiatric-mental health nurses came to Phoenix, Arizona last month for the APNA 31st Annual Conference. After 4 days of learning, collaboration, and invaluable face-to-face time with nurses from around the world, these were the highlights and takeaways: Read More

Featured Resource: New Animated Webinar on Resilience
In the aftermath of traumatic experiences, 75% of individuals will develop resilience while approximately 25% develop PTSD and other negative effects. While providing care to individuals who have experienced trauma, interventions that help build resilience can promote positive outcomes. Practical Ways to Bolster Resilience: A Life-span Perspective, a free animated webinar, explores the physical and neurobiological impact of traumatic events. (Learn More)

Resource Roundup

• About Graduate Degree Programs: New FAQ
• Substance Use Screening Tools and Assessment: NIDA Screening Tools for Adolescent Substance Use
• Free CE: Engaging the Nursing Community in Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder; Navigate Nursing Webinar Series
• Grants and Scholarships: Duke-Johnson & Johnson Nurse Leadership Program; Lantern Review PMHNP Scholarship

New forms of telehealth are taking therapy beyond video conferencing. Among the latest creations is Woebot, the world's first chatbot designed to help improve mental health. Created by a team of former Stanford University psychologists and artificial intelligence experts, Woebot uses Facebook Messenger to deliver a form of cognitive behavioral therapy, asking users how they're feeling and what is going on in their lives through brief daily conversations. The bot also sends videos and mental health advice, depending on a user's mood and needs at the time. Full Story

On November 8, 16 payers representing more than 245 million lives adopted eight National Principles of Care for the treatment of addictions that will improve outcomes and save lives. The principles are derived from the Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs and Health and are backed by three decades of research. Full Story

Over half of people in 10 states who died of opioid overdoses during the second half of 2016 tested positive for fentanyl, according to new data published in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Early Release. The report found that out of a total of 5,152 opioid overdose deaths, almost 3,000 tested positive for fentanyl, and over 700 tested positive for drugs that have similar chemical structures to fentanyl (fentanyl analogs) – including the extremely potent fentanyl analog, carfentanil, which is used to sedate large animals. Full Story

Machine learning combined with fMRI accurately identifies young adults with suicidal thoughts, reported MedScape. Using fMRI and computer-generated algorithms to measure the brain's response to death, suicide, and other concepts, researchers reliably distinguished youth with suicidal thoughts from control persons and accurately identified individuals who had made a suicide attempt. Full Story

A simple 15-minute electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) can help determine whether a patient has major depression or bipolar disorder, according to a new study by researchers with Loyola Medicine in Chicago. The findings, published in the World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, show that heart rate variability (variations in the time intervals between heartbeats) can help differentiate between the two disorders, reported PsychCentral.com. Full Story

To provide guidance to customers and surveyors on what constitutes adequate safeguards to prevent suicide, The Joint Commission assembled an expert panel with representatives from provider organizations, experts in suicide prevention and design of behavioral health care facilities, Joint Commission surveyors and staff, and representatives from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Click here to review recommendation from the panel.

A niacin skin-flushing test may help identify patients with schizophrenia, new research shows. The study included 163 patients with schizophrenia (SZ), 63 patients with a mood disorder (depression, mania, or bipolar disorder), and 63 healthy control participants (HCs). Participants underwent a niacin skin-flushing test consisting of applications of niacin at four different concentrations on the forearm. Investigators led by Chunling Wan, PhD, of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, found that patients with schizophrenia displayed a blunted response to niacin, compared to those with a mood disorder (MD) and HCs, reported MedScape. Full Story

Most advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) saw their compensation continue to grow in 2016, with six-figure pay now the norm across all categories, according to the 2017 Medscape APRN Salary Report. The biggest pay hikes belonged to clinical nurse specialists (CNSs), who received $102,000 last year, 7.4% more than in 2015. Full Story

U.S. Senator Susan Collins introduced the Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act. This bipartisan legislation, cosponsored by Senators Cortez Masto (D-NV), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Tim Kaine (D-VA) would create a public health infrastructure to combat Alzheimer’s disease and preserve brain health. Representatives Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Paul Tonko (D-NY) introduced a companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. Full Story

Pamela F. Cipriano, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, president of the American Nurses Association (ANA) published a statement in response to the American Medical Association’s (AMA) amendment to Resolution 214 – a call for the creation of a national strategy to oppose legislative efforts that grant independent practice to non-physician practitioners through model legislation and national and state level campaigns. Click here to read the statement.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new policy to allow states to design demonstration projects that increase access to treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) and other substance use disorders (SUD). CMS’s new demonstration policy responds to the President’s directive and provides states with greater flexibility to design programs that improve access to high quality, clinically appropriate treatment. In addition, CMS is announcing the immediate approval of both New Jersey and Utah’s demonstration waivers under the new policy. Through this updated policy, states will be able to pay for a fuller continuum of care to treat SUD, including critical treatment in residential treatment facilities that Medicaid is unable to pay for without a waiver. 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.