Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nurses (PAPN) of Houston Newsletter

Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nurses (PAPN) of Houston – Newsletter “Mind Matters”

Welcome, to the first edition of “Mind Matters”, a quarterly PAPN newsletter to keep you updated on the greatest and latest. Look for career opportunities, member news, conference information and etc! Our newsletter will be replaced by a Web Site at a future date. If you have submissions, please email to Tuchill@ sbcglobal.net

Welcome!

When the officers of PAPN decided to try to organize a group of psychiatric APN’s in Houston, we hoped that we could find 15 – 20 potential members to attend a meeting. We were amazed that for our first meeting on July 23, over 30 people attended! Among participants in the first PAPN meeting were APN’s and graduate students in private practices, large medical hospitals, in homeless shelters, correctional facilities, schools of nursing, pain clinics, and cancer centers just to name a few. There is a lot of expertise in Houston among your colleagues and sharing in this wealth is one of the benefits that PAPN brings. Our goals are:

 To provide a forum for advanced practice psychiatric nurses to exchange ideas and foster networking.

 To promote excellence in clinical practice through peer education and consultation

 To support the development of advanced practice psychiatric nurses in and around Houston

 To help identify prospective preceptors for advanced practice nursing students interested in caring for psychiatric patients

PAPN membership is open to all licensed advanced practice nurses who provide care for psychiatric patients, and to students who are completing an advanced practice nursing degree with a specialized interest in caring for psychiatric patients.

Thank you to all those who joined us for our July meeting and for those missed our first meeting, we hope you will join us for our next meeting on September 23, Wednesday, 6:30pm. We are looking forward to an exciting and rewarding first year and we hope that you will join us in building our PAPN community.

Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nurses (PAPN) of Houston – Newsletter

1 “Mind Matters”

Member’s on the Move:

- Brenda Schiavone passed the CNS certification. Congratulations from PAPN! - Wanda Hilliard was accepted into Baylor’s LEAH (Leadership and Education for Adolescent Health) Traineeship, funded by the National Institute of Health.

Career/Conference Opportunities/Other:

-Dr. Florence Kim is recruiting for a PMHNP (part-time leading into full-time). Please contact Diana Bush for details, 832-382-1564.

-MD Anderson is recruiting a full time APN for the Inpatient Psychiatric Consulting Service. Reference the MD Anderson website.

-If you are interested in taking a PMHNP review course in Houston, please email Henrietta Evans at [email protected]

-Continuing Education: Pharmacotherapeutics for Advanced Practice Nurses and Pharmacodynamics for the Bedside Nurse, Texas Woman’s University, Office of Lifelong Learning, 5 CEU’s, $99 earlybird registration, February 27, 2010. Focus for the APN role will be Prescriptive Authority. Reference http://www.twu.edu/continuing-nursing-education/Pharm-Nursing.asp

Membership:

-At the September meeting, working committee’s will be formed. Committee Chair’s will serve on the Board of Directors. Committees: Technology/Webmaster, Social, Education and help me Linda…. . -If you have an interest in helping with Membership, please email [email protected] -Dr. Linda Stafford was the winner of the door prize at the July PAPN meeting..

Next PAPN Meeting - -September 23, Wed, 6:30pm. Speaker: Dr. Kay Lewis, UT Mental Science Center “Bipolar Depression”, , Sponsor: Astra Zeneca. MARK YOUR CALENDAR. Invitations to be emailed soon. Free for members, $10 non-members. Annual Dues $35. Checks or cash only.

Email Addresses for Officers/Board:

Linda Barloon, President - [email protected] Sara Wood, Vice President - [email protected] Delilah Hampton, Secretary Wanda Hilliard, Membership/Treasurer [email protected]

Your PAPN Officers, Linda, Sara, Delilah, & Wanda!