Psychiatric-mental health (PMH) nursing is the nursing practice specialty committed to promoting mental health through the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of behavioral problems, mental disorders, and comorbid conditions across the lifespan. PMH nursing intervention employs a purposeful use of self and a wide range of nursing, psychosocial, and neurobiological evidence to produce effective outcomes. The American Psychiatric Nurses Association and the International Society of Psychiatric Mental-Health Nurses convened a task force of nurse experts from across their practice to review and revise Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice, published in 2007. With input from across the nursing profession that was facilitated by ANA, the task force developed this all-new edition. It is the definitive and up-to-date delineation of psychiatric-mental health nursing, articulating the competent level of nursing practice and professional performance of all PMH registered nurses, whatever their practice level or setting. The publication's scope of practice addresses what is expected of all psychiatric-mental health nurses, specifying the who, what, where, when, why, and how of their practice. The detailed discussion of that scope of practice provides the context needed to understand and use the standards, presenting the underlying assumptions, characteristics, environments and settings, education and training requirements, key issues and trends, and ethical and conceptual bases of the specialty. The standards themselves are authoritative statements that describe the responsibilities by which psychiatric-mental health nurses are held accountable in their practice. Each standard is measurable by a set of specific competencies that serve as evidence of minimal compliance with that standard. While this foundational volume is primarily for those directly involved with psychiatric-mental health nursing practice, education, and research, other nursing and allied healthcare providers, researchers, and scholars will find value in this content. In addition, it is a resource for employers, insurers, lawyers, policy makers, regulators, and stakeholders. Since the late 1990s, ANA has partnered with other nursing organizations to establish a formal process for recognition of specialty areas of nursing practice. This includes the criteria for approving the specialty itself and the scope statement, and an acknowledgment by ANA of the standards of practice for that specialty. Because of the significant changes in the evolving nursing and healthcare environments, ANA's approval of specialty nursing scope statements and its acknowledgment of specialty standards of practice remain valid for five years, starting from the publication date of the documents. The standards in this publication are based on language from ANA's Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice, Second Edition, a helpful supplement to this specialty text, which in turn is of optimal use with two complementary ANA texts: Nursing's Social Policy Statement: The Essence of the Profession and Guide to the Code of Ethics for Nurses: Interpretation and Application. These three books are also available as a set, ANA's Foundation of Nursing Package, to guide nursing practice, thinking, and decision-making. The set is proving useful as a professional reference, classroom textbook, in-service training guide, and credentialing exam resource. For more on these publications, go to www.Nursesbooks.org. Book jacket.