The letter from APNA to ANCC was based upon comments from many APNA members and therefore it is important that you continue to let us hear from you. APNA is seen by ANCC as an important stakeholder in any dialogue about the future direction of the examination. APNA welcomes the opportunity to participate in that meeting which is scheduled to occur during the ISPN conference on April 24 in Baltimore. This letter will describe the issues and concerns that APNA will bring to the April 24 meeting. APNA further proposes the development of a single examination to replace the current PMH specialist examination provided a module examination to test knowledge needed for prescriptive competence is made available for those who wish to obtain prescriptive authority.
More detailed information is provided below about our concerns.
A survey form and a fact sheet that included a definition of the examination, eligibility criteria and guidelines was added as in insert into the March issue of the APNA newsletter with a request for a fax back reply. I. Titling of the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Examination Providers of advanced practice psychiatric-mental health nursing must include both clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners. ANCC specialists who earned a non-nursing Master's Degree and were certified by ANCC prior to 1995 and possess documented academic course credit or validated continuing education credit for required course content including physical assessment, advanced neuropsychiatric pathophysiology, differential diagnosis and pharmacology, psychopharmacology. The APRN-PMH examination would become the new core examination. The APRN-PMH examination must reflect current trends in treatment and the broad core of knowledge critical for the advanced practice of the specialty.