The American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) is a professional nursing organization whose purpose, mission, and vision exude its significance to nurses operating in the mental health domain. APNA, founded in 1986, exercises a commitment to the specialty practice of psychiatric-mental health (PMH) nursing with wellness promotion (“APNA”). The organization's jurisdiction involves promoting wellness, preventing mental health issues, and facilitating the treatment or care for psychiatric disorder patients. APNA's mission involves "championing psychiatric-mental health nursing and advocating for mental health" (“APNA”). The organization's vision consists of facilitating professional advancement through PMH education subject to core values such as "empowerment, inclusivity, integrity, collegiality, innovation, transparency, and stewardship" (“APNA”). It manages to achieve its goals by developing and taking critical issues about mental health and disseminating prevailing knowledge to that effect. APNA equally enrolls developments in PMH nursing while concurrently adopting collaborative measures with consumer groups. The enacted measures promote "evidence-based advances targeting recovery-focused assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and evaluation of persons with mental illness and substance use disorders"(“APNA”).
The overall benefits of being an APNA member equally illustrate its significance to nurses who specialize in mental health. Firstly, the organization offers members excellent resources and programs to advance their profession. They include online continuing education sessions and eBooks, with members having a "4 free options every month." Membership also tags along the space to use bonus points for accessing content choice offered in the eLearning Center with a minimal-to-no cost. Secondly, APNA members have significant discounts, such as the organization's annual conference fees accompanied by charges to the Clinical Psychopharmacology Institute. Others include discounted prices on select publications (the Publications Discounts Program) and saving on programs run by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) like certification, examinations, and material reviews. ANCC reserves exclusive dealing rights with APNA members. They also get special rates whenever there are other associations' conference registrations accompanied by their educational materials. Therefore, the overall benefits of APNA membership facilitate the organization meeting its purpose of facilitating operations for nurses specializing in mental health.
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Nurses who operate in the mental health specialty face a demanding job subject to their jurisdiction in service delivery, which propagates the need to network. The medical practitioners offer their services in a specialized field for nursing practice (they provide specialized care). They commonly operate in unison with medical professionals in other specialties forming service-delivery teams that target optimal clinical service providence and ideal patient outcomes (Beck et al., 2020). The job description of nurses within the mental health faculty therein requires sufficient networking to keep their involvement and engagement at top-notch. Networking also offers them the platform to associate with like-minded professionals facing similar issues when delivering services. It also provides mental health nurses insight into the changing dynamics of handling patients facing psychiatric problems or bearing disorders that demand additional care. The medical professionals get the platform to forge ahead in their careers, considering the garnered insight propagated by access to valuable resources. Therefore, networking serves to facilitate the service-delivery for nurses serving under mental health specialty.
APNA recognizes the need for networking for the nurses in the mental health specialty, accommodating through provided platforms. APNA has approximately more than 14000 members committed to the professional nursing organization's mission, vision, and goals (Delaney et al., 2019). The vast group offers a platform for interchanges among the health professionals to exchange ideas related to proper service delivery. APNA offers a Member Bridge interactive space whereby the members can connect while concurrently benefiting from every individual's expert knowledge. APNA also provides an online Resource Center where the professionals can exchange position papers, guides, and medication updates for handling patients requiring mental care. APNA promotes the establishment of volunteer committees, encouraging members to be a part of its collegial community and contribute to the medical field. The monthly newsletter, APNA News: The Psychiatric Nursing Voice, equally offers members the space for exchanges primarily through information relevant to PMH nursing. APNA therein recognizes the need for networking by the professionals exhibited by the availed platforms.
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APNA is famous for multiple publications to keep members informed regarding healthcare changes and practice transformation affecting the mental health specialty. The organization publishes vast position papers that touch on mental health issues alongside caring for psychiatric disorder patients. APNA News: The Psychiatric Nursing Voice, a monthly electronic newsletter, gets to members through their emails. Another publication for the organization is the Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (JAPNA) facilitated by SAGE Publications. APNA offers members an online platform to access such publications, which equally accommodates peer-reviewed articles concerning mental health nursing practice. Lastly, APNA "co-published Psychiatric-Mental Health: Scope and Standards of Practice with the American Nurses Association and International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses” (Delaney et al., 2019). The set of publications keep the members informed regarding matters about mental health.
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APNA offers members the platform to continue with their education and professional development to facilitate service delivery. The organization has a well-established program that educates the PMH nurses, accommodating prevailing developments in medical research and practice. It is an accredited provider for "continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation, therein offers a variety of live and online continuing nursing education programs" (“APNA”). The APNA eLearning Center has online programs providing the nurses with relevant information from acclaimed professionals in the field, content experts, and recognized speakers, contributing to augmenting online education. Therefore, APNA offers ideal opportunities for continuing education and professional development, contributing to service delivery in the mental health sector.
References
American Psychiatric Nurses Association. “APNA.” https://www.apna.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1
Beck, A. J., Page, C., Buche, J., & Gaiser, M. (2020). The distribution of advanced practice nurses within the psychiatric workforce. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association , 26 (1), 92-96.
Delaney, K. R., Drew, B. L., & Rushton, A. (2019). Report on the APNA national psychiatric mental health advanced practice registered nurse survey. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association , 25 (2), 146-155.
