Nicholas Croce Jr. of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association on Psychiatric Nursing and Patient-First Language

Through the Noise #228

Nicholas Croce Jr.  // Executive Director // American Psychiatric Nurses Association

Nicholas Croce Jr. joins us today from the American Psychiatric Nurses Association where he represents 11,000 of the country’s nurses that treat patients suffering from mental illnesses. Prior to becoming Executive Director of the APNA, Nicholas Croce Jr. had a long career in a number of different fields, including the U.S. Air Force, the Post Office, and work as an x-ray technician before delving into the association world. The work of psychiatric nurses is often misunderstood and they are seen as “the nurses that sit around and play cards with patients,” but with 60 million Americans suffering from mental illnesses that cannot be seen or observed quite as easily as a broken leg or bronchitis, these nurses use a variety of techniques of observation to gain a handle on what is bothering the patient — including patiently playing cards. We discuss the importance of patient-first language such as a “person with alcoholism” rather than an alcoholic, or a “a person suffering from schizophrenia” rather than a schizophrenic, acknowledging that the person is more than a major illness or problem.

Nicholas Croce Jr. is a Vietnam Era Veteran with 35 years of managerial experience in not-for-profit organizations. For the past ten years he has serves as the executive director of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. The American Psychiatric Nurses Association represents the scientific and educational interests of mental-health nurses in the United States.