First Look: Annual Conference Sessions on Improving Unit Safety and the Nurse-Patient Relationship in Telepsychiatry
The APNA 36th Annual Conference will be the first in-person Annual Conference in 2 years. (The event is also available via virtual livestream.) Psychiatric-mental health nurses from around the U.S. will gather October 19-22 in Long Beach, California, to discover and learn from colleagues. Two more presenters share sneak peeks of their upcoming APNA Annual Conference sessions – and their excitement about participating in person!
Saturday Session
Danielle Michalak, MSN, RN, PMH-BC, will present Examining Unit Rules/Expectations to Improve Unit Safety and Enhance Patient Experience in an Inpatient Psychiatric Unit: Keep, Omit, Re-frame, and Educate at 12:30pm Pacific on Saturday, October 21. Co-presenters are Kristin Phillips-Marcum, MSN, RN, PMH-BC; Elizabeth Barwick, BSN, RN; Claire Kidwell, MSN, RN, PMH-BC; and Georgia Rosenblatt, MS, APRN, PMHCNS-BC.
What can those who attend your session look forward to learning?
Our session provides insight on how nurses can examine and amend their unit’s rules/expectations to improve safety and enhance patient experience.
How can attendees apply what they learn into their own work?
Attendees can take our inventory forms and improvement methods back to their own units and engage their team in thoughtful discussions about change.
What is the one point from the presentation that you’d like attendees to take away?
Be empowered! Many informal unit rules/expectations are cemented in unit culture, but creative exploration and conversation can help transform care and encourage nurses to think out of the box while maintaining unit safety.
What are you most looking forward to at the APNA 36th Annual Conference?
I love the a-ha! and oh wow! moments provided by the presentations offered. So much innovative and interesting work is being done in our profession – it’s exciting to learn and also be able to share with my unit!
Thursday Session
Karen G. Pounds, PhD, PMHCNS, BC, will present Rethinking the Therapeutic Nurse-Patient Relationship in a Telepsychiatry Environment at 3:30pm Pacific on Thursday, October 20. Pounds’ interactive annual conference session will have attendees creatively design nursing interventions in an effort to rethink the foundational therapeutic relationship when it happens remotely.
What can those who attend your session look forward to learning?
Telepsychiatry, necessitated by the pandemic, changed our practice environment. Other disciplines in the mental health field have been studying its influence on the therapeutic relationship. The sense of presence and immediacy of the practitioner with the patient is one example.
What is one point from the presentation that you’d like attendees to take away?
As psychiatric-mental health nurses at all levels, we need to apply this knowledge to our own practice with clients in the telepsychiatry milieu. We also need to begin examining the nurse-patient relationship in a new way.
What are you most looking forward to at the APNA 36th Annual Conference?
I am really looking forward to attending the APNA conference to network with colleagues, learn from them, and share my passion for psychiatric-mental health nursing!
>>> Do these APNA Annual Conference sessions pique your interest? Register today!
About APNA: The American Psychiatric Nurses Association is a national professional membership organization committed to the 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 evidence. The American Psychiatric Nurses Association is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
