Sending Peace and Warmth this Holiday Season
After a year marked by upheaval and challenges, we hope that this holiday season brings you peace and warmth. Here’s a message of gratitude for all you do from APNA President Matt Tierney, MS, CNS, ANP, PMHNP, FAAN.

Stand Up & Be Counted for Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing
Help show the world who psychiatric-mental health nurses are! Participate in a groundbreaking workforce survey and earn a $20 credit towards content of your choosing in the APNA eLearning Center. Take the RN Survey  |  Take the APRN Survey

Johnson & Johnson Nurses Innovate QuickFire Challenge: Apply by 1/15 for Up to $100,000 in Grant Funding
APNA has partnered with Johnson & Johnson to encourage psychiatric-mental health nurse-led ideas including education protocols, treatment or prevention approaches, and more. The deadline to apply for up to $100,000 in grant funding, access to the JLABS ecosystem, and mentoring opportunities is January 15, 2021.  Learn More

Call for Comments: Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice
The public call for comments on the draft Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice, Third Edition is now open! This draft update includes numerous changes, including the creation of a new standard, expanded focus on population health and health inequities, recognition of substance use disorders as psychiatric disorders, and identification of new roles for psychiatric-mental health nurses. Help ensure that this important document for psychiatric-mental health nursing is readable, applicable, and usable! Deadline for Comments: January 18, 2021. Click here to get started.

Motivational Interviewing Course Now Free through June 2021
As in-person educational opportunities continue to be limited, APNA is extending free public access to the online course Motivational Interviewing through June 30th, 2021. In addition to 3.0 contact hours, this course features simulation and interactive components which help you engage with the content and may meet some schools' current requirements* for class time or clinical hours. Click here to access the course.

Coming Soon: Call for Abstracts
It’s time to start brainstorming! The APNA 35th Annual Conference Call for Abstracts will open in early January, with a deadline of March 1st. This year’s theme is Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses: Revolutionizing Access to Person-Centered Care. Be on the lookout for an email at the start of the year with more information.

As the number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the nation and hospitals become overwhelmed, the pandemic is taking a dangerous toll on the mental health of frontline healthcare workers, according to a new survey conducted by Mental Health America (MHA). The survey showed 93% of health care workers were experiencing stress, 86% reported experiencing anxiety, 77% reported frustration, 76% reported exhaustion and burnout, and 75% said they were overwhelmed. Full Story

The Alzheimer’s Association and the American College of Radiology, with manufacturing partners Eli Lilly and Co., GE Healthcare and Life Molecular Imaging, have launched recruiting for the New IDEAS: Imaging Dementia — Evidence for Amyloid Scanning study. FDA-approved brain amyloid PET can detect one of the hallmark brain changes related to Alzheimer’s — amyloid accumulation — in those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia of uncertain cause. The goal of the New IDEAS Study is to determine if using a brain amyloid PET scan helps clinicians provide a more accurate diagnosis and make better treatment decisions, which would then inform or change a patient’s treatment plan and improve their quality of life. Full Story

Millions of children and adolescents aged 18 and younger from low-income families did not receive mental health care or other health care services in the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). From March to May of this year, there were 6.9 million, or 44%, fewer outpatient mental health services received by children covered by Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) compared with the same period last year. Full Story

A new monograph offers a far-reaching update on research and clinical management of bipolar disorders (BDs), including epidemiology, genetics, pathogenesis, psychosocial aspects, and current and investigational therapies, reported MedScape.com. Full Story

The Joint Commission conducted an online questionnaire in Sept. 2020 among health care organizations that work with the organization to assess needs for enhancements, changes and improvements to patient safety and quality of care amid COVID-19. Click here to view a summary of the survey responses.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared NightWare—a smartwatch-utilizing program that can reduce the occurrence of wake-inducing nightmares—to be marketed in the U.S. as a prescription digital therapeutic. The new system is indicated to treat nightmare disorder or severe nightmares related to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults aged 22 and over. Full Story

Over 81,000 drug overdose deaths occurred in the U.S. in the 12 months ending in May 2020, the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period, according to recent provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While overdose deaths were already increasing in the months preceding the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the latest numbers suggest an acceleration of overdose deaths during the pandemic. Full Story

From 2016 through 2019, the proportion of youth presenting to the ED with a chief complaint of an all-drug overdose increased a mean 2% per quarter among children ages 10 and under, 2.3% for youth 11-14 years, and remained relatively stable among adolescents 15-24 years, reported MedpageToday.com. Suspected stimulant overdoses rose by a mean 3.3% per quarter among children 10 and under, 4% among children 11-14, and 2.3% for older adolescents. Incidence of heroin overdose, however, decreased by a mean 3.3% per quarter for youth ages 15-24 years and remained very low in all other age groups. Full Story

Following bipartisan and bicameral negotiation, on Dec. 16, Congress passed the Crisis Stabilization and Community Reentry Act and now heads to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law. This legislation is designed to provide aid and resources to care coordination efforts between community mental health and addiction treatment centers and local law enforcement agencies. Full Story

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that would improve the electronic exchange of health care data among payers, providers, and patients, and streamline processes related to prior authorization to reduce burden on providers and patients. By both increasing data flow, and reducing burden, this proposed rule would give providers more time to focus on their patients, and provide better quality care. Full Story

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced proposed changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule to support individuals’ engagement in their care, remove barriers to coordinated care, and reduce regulatory burdens on the health care industry. The proposed changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule include strengthening individuals’ rights to access their own health information, including electronic information; improving information sharing for care coordination and case management for individuals; facilitating greater family and caregiver involvement in the care of individuals experiencing emergencies or health crises; enhancing flexibilities for disclosures in emergency or threatening circumstances, such as the Opioid and COVID-19 public health emergencies; and reducing administrative burdens on HIPAA covered health care providers and health plans, while continuing to protect individuals’ health information privacy interests. Full Story

A public–private partnership, led by mental health advocate Patrick Kennedy and the head of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Joshua Gordon, MD, PhD, want urgent action to address the wave of mental illness and suicide caused by to COVID-19, reported MedScape.com. At a recent press briefing the group's new six-priority Action Plan was announced. 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.