Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation™ - Champion Spotlight Series - American Psychiatric Nurses Association 3789

Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation™ - Champion Spotlight Series - American Psychiatric Nurses Association

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Organization puts the spotlight on nurse self-care during COVID-19

We are pleased to shine the spotlight on the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA), an exceptional Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation™ Champion.
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Now more than ever, nurse well-being is essential. As advocates for psychiatric-mental health nurses, no one knows this better than the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA). That’s why the organization’s leadership is placing even more emphasis on nurse well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. 

Staying Well During COVID-19
Although APNA members are psychiatric-mental health nurses, they are not the only ones who benefit from the COVID-19 resources on APNA’s website. The page Managing Stress & Self-Care During COVID-19: Information for Nurses is one of the most popular resources.

APNA also promotes nurse wellness for all nurses through the Well-Being Initiative — a joint effort between:
  • APNA
  • American Nurses Foundation (ANF)
  • American Nurses Association (ANA)
  • American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN)
  • Emergency Nurses Association (ENA)

The Well-Being Initiative includes a collection of virtual support systems, toolkits, and resources. For example, one of the popular items in the Curated Digital Toolkit is the Nurses’ Guide to Mental Health Support Services.

The APNA website is also filled with other rich resources dedicated to nurse wellness. Another  favorite resource is the Self Care Tip Sheet for Nurses that members routinely share with their units and students.

“Self-care is such an important part of resiliency and something we all need more of right now,” said APNA President Tari (Sattaria) Dilks, RN, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC, FAANP. “These are unprecedented times, and our organization is trying to be nimble in our response.”

Free Programs for Unprecedented Times
During these challenging days, APNA recognizes the need for online learning opportunities and continuing education (CE) for nurses. That’s why through December 2020, APNA is offering a free CE program for all nurses called Motivational Interviewing (MI). MI is a communication method that allows the patient to lead the care plan with guidance from the nurse. This encourages greater motivation for change. The 3-hour course teaches best practices for motivational interviewing and how to best apply it to the care nurses provide to patients.

Other free APNA continuing education offerings include:
ba85d702d44e5f3756be88a318fc6acd-huge-ap“In an effort to reach more nurses, we’re making more education available to the public in response to COVID-19,” said APNA Executive Director Lisa Deffenbaugh Nguyen, MS, CAE. “We see a lot of interest in free courses, which is one reason why we make 4 eLearning sessions available for free to APNA members each month.”

Suicide Prevention
Another major focus of the APNA is suicide prevention. Even before the coronavirus pandemic began, the nursing profession saw higher rates of death by suicide compared to non-nursing fields in the U.S. Now, under these exceptionally stressful circumstances, those rates could go up even more.

“We need to get to the point where all nurses can do suicide assessments and be more aware of signs of suicide,” said Tari. “That’s why we offer suicide prevention facilitator trainings — in hopes of getting more nurses to teach APNA Competency Based Training for Suicide Prevention.”

Facilitators who complete the course get a better understanding of suicide prevention and the ability to facilitate an educational training to other nurses. From there, they can work with institutions to deliver the training.

Ongoing Efforts to Be Well
No matter what the world is facing, APNA continues to promote ANA’s Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation valuable self-care resources. The organization is constantly featuring #healthynurse content in its email newsletters, social media channels, and website.

Nurses deserve a focus on self-care and well-being, and aligning with ANA’s Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation initiative helps APNA deliver exactly that.

Learn more about the work of our Champion partners here and become an HNHN Champion.

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Blog Champion Spotlight 08/08/2020 11:01am CDT

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