NSG 310 Introduction To Professional Nursing
Question:
Examine the importance of professional associations in nursing. Choose a professional nursing organization that relates to your specialty area, or a specialty area in which you are interested. In a 750-1,000 word paper, provide a detailed overview the organization and its advantages for members. Include the following:
- Describe the organization and its significance to nurses in the specialty area. Include its purpose, mission, and vision. Describe the overall benefits, or “perks,” of being a member.
- Explain why it is important for a nurse in this specialty field to network. Discuss how this organization creates networking opportunities for nurses.
- Discuss how the organization keeps its members informed of health care changes and changes to practice that affect the specialty area.
- Discuss opportunities for continuing education and professional development.
Answer:
Introduction
The organization that has been chosen by me is the esteemed organization of the American Nurses Association. This reputed organization exclusively supports professionals who wish to assume the role of advanced nursing practitioners in future (ANA, 2018). The organization specifically focuses on rendering quality training to the aspiring professionals and at the same time promote positive patient outcome. In the following sections, the justification for choosing the organization and its role in building an effective nursing career by increasing the knowledge and job opportunities would be discussed.
Response 1:
The American Nurses Organization focuses on safeguarding the wellbeing of the nurses and assist training in order to support healthier lives. The mission of the organization relies on providing the best practice environment to the dedicated nursing professionals who would positively contribute towards the wellbeing of the patients (ANA,2018). The organization is positively committed towards the promotion of nursing excellence in the professional field. It imparts knowledge about tackling ethical issues within the scope of practice, abiding by the standards of the profession and ensuring protection and advancement within the scope of practice. In addition to this, the organization offers a varied range of perks to the members. The perks include golden opportunity to attend Nursing webinars free of cost quarterly through the year. In addition to this, the organization also offers online academic sources at a discounted price. In addition to this, the ANCC offers the initial certification at an extremely reasonable price range of only $125 dollars. Also, the certificate renewal cost is also reasonable amounting to only, $100 (ANA 2018). The American Nurses Organization offers a career on successful completion of the certificate course. In addition to this, the members get the opportunity to stay connected with the Registered Nurses and the Mentors through local and national meetings and social media. Maintenance of the communication network assists the aspiring professionals to remain updated with the latest advancements in the professional field and at the same time improves the decision making ability (ANA 2018). At the same time, it is critical to note that the perks of being a member varies from one location to another but includes certain general items such as the state association newsletter, job networking, education and career development, local networking opportunities and representation in the state house with regards to critical issues.
Response 2:
Professional networking is defined as the process that is based upon professional interactions and contribute in a positive manner to build strong professional relationships (Butts & Rich, 2013). According to DeNisco & Barker (2013), it has been mentioned that professional networking allows nurses to closely interact with members of different healthcare organizations and keep a track on the ongoing recruitment across the organizations. It can hence be said that professional networking is extremely important for the advancement of the nursing career (Finkelman & Kenner, 2014). In addition to the, networking substantially offers professional support to the nurses and delivers scope to the professionals to enhance the healthcare systems. Therefore to summarize it can be said that, Networking forms an integral part of the nursing profession as it allows the registered nurses to interact and coordinate with other professionals and Mentors to enhance their scope of practice and look for better job opportunities (Tower et al., 2014).
In this context, it should be noted that the American Nursing Organization provides ample networking opportunities in the form of local as well as state networking opportunities. The members of the organization can interact with one another through local and national meetings, committees and on the social media (ANA 2018). In addition to this, being a member of the ANA is equivalent to being a member of the state and that confers the right to vote in the American Nurses Association as well as the concerned state nurses association. ANA also hosts the largest online community of the registered nursing professionals who can interact with one another. It should also be noted that the organization observes the National and State-Level lobby day and the ANA Quality and Innovation Conference (ANA 2018). It can be mentioned in this regard that the organization provides ample opportunities to the members to involve in the process of networking and boost their professional as well as academic career.
Response 3:
The healthcare sector is one of the dynamic sectors that has been reported to evolve and advance significantly on a regular basis (Holloway & Galvin, 2016). It is extremely important for the healthcare professionals to continuously upgrade themselves with the latest advancements of practice. In close association to this, it can be stated that it is important to keep the nursing professionals informed about the recent development in the field of health science that affects their speciality area of practice (Hood, 2013). The American Nursing Association ensures this through the newsletters and the diverse academic resources that are accessible online at an extremely nominal price. The members can conveniently access the latest journals that focus on nursing issues and enrich their knowledge reserve. In addition to the informative journals that keep the members informed about the latest ongoing development in the field of nursing the ANA also publishes the code of Ethics for the nurses that assist the members in acquiring proficiency to undertake critical decisions during complex clinical scenarios (ANA 2018). It should also be noted that the ANA also features the Capitol Beat Blog that helps the professionals in being aware about the exclusive clinical events across various areas of the state and track changes within the scope of practice that affects the speciality area of practice (ANA 2018).
Response 4:
The ANA is committed to guide a registered nurse throughout the professional journey in order to obtain the best career outcome. The organization has structured programs to offer assistance to professionals with career and professional development, certification preparation, continuing higher education, collaborate with ANA enterprise and look for an appropriate nursing job (ANA 2018 It further provides information to the nursing professionals through online and offline newsletters, monthly journals, pamphlets, posters and E-Newsletters so that required information could be circulated. The discussed topics include, work environment, organizational excellence, clinical expertise, certification review and leadership and onsite political news. Social media is also used to circulate the information among the members effectively.
References:
ANA (2018). Continuing Professional Education in Nursing | ANA Enterprise. [online] ANA. Available at: https://www.nursingworld.org/resources/individual/ [Accessed 6 Dec. 2018].
Butts, J. B., & Rich, K. L. (2013). Philosophies and theories for advanced nursing practice. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
DeNisco, S. M., & Barker, A. M. (2013). Advanced practice nursing: Evolving roles for the transformation of the profession.
Finkelman, A., & Kenner, C. (2014). Professional nursing concepts. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Holloway, I., & Galvin, K. (2016). Qualitative research in nursing and healthcare. John Wiley & Sons.
Hood, L. (2013). Leddy & Pepper’s conceptual bases of professional nursing. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Tower, M., Latimer, S., & Hewitt, J. (2014). Social networking as a learning tool: nursing students’ perception of efficacy. Nurse Education Today, 34(6), 1012-1017.
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