Give the Gift of Continuing Education
With this new program, APNA members can gift online continuing education to anyone. A gift of bonus points enables the recipient to select and earn continuing education from the hundreds of options in the APNA eLearning Center. Plus, the proceeds from this bonus points program will benefit the American Psychiatric Nursing Foundation (APNF). This means that you are both investing in a colleague and in the foundation with this gift...and that your purchase is tax deductible! Once you've completed your purchase, we will send the recipient an email notification of your gift as well as instructions on how to use the bonus points. Click here to get started.

Resources for Dealing with Tragedy
To help you with questions that may come your way due to recent events, we have collected and posted resources suggested by our members. Click here to view.

10 Sessions from APNA Annual Conference Now Online
Earn contact hours with ten new sessions available in the APNA eLearning Center, originally presented at the APNA 29th Annual Conference. Conference attendees can use their attendee bonus points to access the podcasts and APNA members can use their membership renewal bonus points to order the content at little to no cost. Stay tuned for updates as more sessions are made available. Learn More

Start Brainstorming: Call for Abstracts Opens Soon
The APNA 30th Annual Conference Call for Abstracts will open in early January. It's time to start thinking about what you might like to present at the conference this October in Hartford, CT. To help you get started, here's a list of topics that were covered in the 2015 conference program.

Three biomarker-based categories, called biotypes, outperformed traditional diagnoses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with psychosis, in sorting psychosis cases into distinct subgroups on the basis of brain biology, according to a report funded by the National Institutes of Health. The results lend support to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDoC) initiative, which frees scientists from designing research based on traditional diagnostic categories, encouraging them to explore groupings based on genomics, behavioral dimensions, physiological traits, or brain imaging findings. More precise diagnosis is expected to lead to improved treatments. Full Story

The American Nurses Association, along with the American Delirium Society, is seeking your assistance in identifying what resources are needed for all RNs in all settings to effectively prevent, identify, and treat delirium in different patient populations. Please help this effort by completing a brief survey by clicking here. Results will guide the work of ANA's Delirium Work Group, both in resource/product development and in refining and clarifying delirium issues for families, patients, and health care providers.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has published Nonpharmacological Vs. Pharmacological Treatments for Adult Patients With Major Depressive Disorder. Click here to download the report. (PDF)

The available evidence suggests no difference in the treatment effects of second generation antidepressants and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), either alone or in combination, for patients with severe depression, according to a new international study. Because patients have personal preferences for one treatment over the other, both should be made accessible to patients with major depressive disorder, reported PsychCentral.com. Full Story

In support of growing Federal efforts to reduce the abuse of opioid drugs, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announced a call for research to expand access to evidence-based treatment for opioid abuse disorders in rural areas. AHRQ is making available up to $12 million to fund as many as four research demonstration projects to support implementation of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder in rural primary care practices.  MAT is an evidence-based approach that uses FDA-approved medications combined with psychosocial treatments. Full Story

Overall, the number of admissions reported among Americans aged 12 and older for publicly funded substance use treatment has declined slightly from 2003 to 2013 (from 1,865,145 admissions in 2003 to 1,683,451 admissions in 2013), according to a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Additionally, the report reveals that there have been notable changes in the proportion of admissions associated with various substances of abuse. Full Story

A search for a new endowed chair position in community child and adolescent psychiatry recently opened at Johns Hopkins. The position is based in the School of Medicine and they are looking for a senior clinician scientist in nursing, psychiatry, psychology, social work, or related mental health field who is interested in doing research and clinical work focused on community mental health. Click here for more information

The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) is seeking applications from educators and practicing nurses to serve as volunteer evaluators on its accreditation review teams. The deadline for submitting an application to be considered for the Spring 2016 evaluator training program is January 8, 2016. To learn more about serving as a volunteer evaluator, please watch Volunteering as a CCNE Evaluator in the Accreditation Process, available here. To be considered for service as a volunteer on-site evaluator in the CCNE accreditation review process, please click here to access the application form and to upload a current curriculum vitae/resume. Two letters of recommendation must be submitted directly to CCNE from individuals who can address the applicant’s qualifications and suitability to serve as a CCNE on-site evaluator. The letters of recommendation can be uploaded by clicking here. CCNE will only consider applications that are submitted using CCNE’s online application form and that include two letters of recommendation. For more information, please contact Dina Recor, CCNE Accreditation Coordinator, at drecor@aacn.nche.edu or 202-887-6791 x252.

Eighty-four percent of U.S. primary care doctors say their practices are not well prepared to manage severely mentally ill patients, according to findings from the Commonwealth Fund’s 2015 International Health Policy Survey. Full Story

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

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has released its third annual survey of state mental health care legislation. Only 23 states were willing to increase mental health spending in 2015, compared to 36 states in 2013 and 29 in 2014, according to the report. Full Story To download the report click here.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) could provide expanded access to behavioral healthcare for 5.3 million low-income, uninsured people who need substance use or mental health treatment, according to a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). These people are eligible for this treatment through the expansion of Medicaid benefits provided by the law – if they live in states that participate in the Medicaid expansion program. Full Story

Sacramento County emergency departments saw more than triple the number of emergency psychiatric consults and 55% increases in lengths of stay for psychiatric patients in the first year after mental health services funding was slashed in California, reported PsychCentral.com. Full Story

To achieve quality care, better patient outcomes and financial stability, optimal nurse staffing should be viewed by health care employers as a necessity rather than an option - particularly as health care reforms and new regulations take hold, according to a new white paper commissioned by the American Nurses Association (ANA). Nurses at all levels and in all settings can use the white paper, “Optimal Nurse Staffing to Improve Quality of Care and Patient Outcomes,” as a resource to advocate for and implement sound, evidence-based staffing plans. 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.