The IOM Future of Nursing Report, national health care reform, and mental health parity legislation – all are heralding a new path for psychiatric nurses. Integrated mental health brings new opportunities for our expanded utilization.
Falls Church, VA (PRWEB) March 31, 2014
The American Psychiatric Nurses Association has released an online presentation, The Policy Implications of Integrated Care, which provides an overview of the systematic coordination of mental health, substance abuse, and primary care. The presentation, available to the public on the APNA website, especially focuses on the role of psychiatric-mental health nurses in the integration of health care. Presenter Sharon Katz, FPMH-APRN, CRNP examines how the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Future of Nursing Report, national health care reform, mental health parity legislation, and other recent policy developments impact psychiatric-mental health nursing at all levels.
“The IOM Future of Nursing Report, national health care reform, and mental health parity legislation – all are heralding a new path for psychiatric nurses,” says Katz. “Integrated mental health brings new opportunities for our expanded utilization.”
“Psychiatric-mental health nurses are prepared with the knowledge, expertise, and abilities to provide care that addresses the whole person – both physical and mental health,” says APNA President Patricia Cunningham, DNSc, APRN, BC. “This presentation provides psychiatric-mental health nurses with background knowledge that will help us demonstrate how we as a profession can help to fill gaps in health care.”
This presentation is the first video of the APNA Institute for Mental Health Advocacy’s Policy Forum, a new initiative which will address policy issues pertaining to psychiatric-mental health care and nursing. The Institute for Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA) is APNA’s conduit for monitoring legislative, regulatory and policy matters affecting psychiatric-mental health and nursing. Chaired by Margaret Halter, PhD, PMHCNS and Christine Tebaldi, MS, PMHNP-BC, the Institute works to inform psychiatric-mental health nurses about these issues and help the APNA Board of Directors coordinate organizational responses.
Sharon R. Katz, FPMH-APRN, CRNP is the owner of Collaborative Care, a multi-site and integrated mental health practice based in Abington, PA and founded in 1995 to advance psychiatric nursing in integrated medical environments. Katz has worked in primary care and dialysis practices as well as developed an outpatient clinical practice to provide supportive mental health services.
The American Psychiatric Nurses Association is a national professional membership organization committed to the specialty practice of psychiatric-mental health nursing and wellness promotion, prevention of mental health problems and the care and treatment of persons with psychiatric disorders. APNA’s membership is inclusive of all psychiatric mental health registered nurses including associate degree, baccalaureate, advanced practice (comprised of clinical nurse specialists and psychiatric nurse practitioners), and nurse scientists and academicians (PhD). APNA serves as a resource for psychiatric mental health nurses to engage in networking, education, and the dissemination of research.