Choose a professional nursing organization that relates to the nursing profession or your clinical practice area
Choose a professional nursing organization that relates to the nursing profession or your clinical practice area
Professional organizations play an important role in the development of advanced practice nurses. Advanced practice nurses utilize them as platforms for advancing their knowledge and skills in practice and networking purposes. Often, advanced practice nurses belong to professional associations that align with their areas of specialization. Therefore, this paper explores a professional association that I may belong to in the future as a specialist in geriatrics nursing.
Organizational Description
I am interested in the Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association (GAPNA). GAPNA is a professional organization formed to represent advanced practice nurses, researchers, clinicians, and educators’ interests. It advocates the interests of healthcare providers involved in advancing and practice of caring for the elderly. GAPNA provides healthcare providers in elderly care and practice, opportunities for research, leadership, education, networking, advocacy, and advancement of evidence-based care. The mission of the association is to promote excellence in advanced practice nursing for the health and wellbeing of the elderly. Its vision is to continue being trusted leaders for the expert care for the elderly. The goals of the association include advocating quality care for the elderly, promoting professional development, offering continuing gerontological education, and educating the population about issues related to aging. GAPNA members enjoy several benefits from the association (gapna.org, n.d.-a). They include the ability to network with other professionals, continuing education, information about evidence-based practice, and enhanced involvement activities that advance the care of the elderly.
Geriatric nurse specialists should network for several reasons. First, networking informs geriatric nurse specialists about new practices and developments in the care of the elderly. They learn about evidence-based interventions that optimize care outcomes of elderly patients, which can be used in their settings. Networking also informs geriatric nurses about transformations in their practice and their expected roles. For example, geriatric nurses learn about advances in geriatrics, new researches, and practice recommendations for their career advancement. Consequently, networking acts as an opportunity for personal and professional development for geriatric nurses (Rizany et al., 2018). Lastly, networking provides opportunities for spreading and promoting continuous improvement in healthcare. By connecting with other specialists in geriatrics, advanced practice nurses develop better insights into clinical pathways that can be adopted to drive sustained and continuous improvement in the safety, quality, and efficiency of elderly care. GAPNA creates networking opportunities for its members through scientific conferences. It organizes scientific conferences where members share information about evidence-based practices and guidelines for use in elderly care(gapna.org, n.d.-a). Members use the conferences to advance their knowledge in various issues affecting elderly care such as advocacy, research, education, and evidence-based practice.
How it Keeps Members Informed
GAPNA ensures that its members remain informed about health care changes and changes to practice that affects geriatrics. One of the ways it achieves this objective is through scientific conferences. It uses scientific conferences to inform its members about practice changes they should incorporate into patient care. The organization also publishes evidence-based information about practice changes. For example, it publishes current guidelines for geriatrics on its website to enable access to its members. It also supports inter-professional collaboration initiatives that enhance the competencies of the providers in elderly care(Kaya &Boz, 2019). GAPNA also has online resources accessed through its library for use by its members in learning about new practice changes. There is also the development of toolkits for new practice recommendations. Toolkits guide its members in implementing new changes in geriatric care, hence, standardized care. The last way in which GAPNA keeps its members informed about health care changes and changes to practice that affects elderly care is through social media (gapna.org, n.d.-a). It uses social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to inform its members about practice changes affecting their practice and patient care.
Choose a professional nursing organization that relates to the nursing profession or your clinical practice area
Opportunities for Continuing Education and Professional Development
Continuing education and professional development are important for geriatric nurses. GAPNA provides several opportunities for continuing education and professional development for its members. One of the ways is ensuring access to continuing education and professional development opportunities such as conferences to its members. GAPNA members have access to annual and pharmacology conferences that enhance their knowledge and skills in optimizing care outcomes in elderly care. Members also have access to an online library that enables them to obtain current, evidence-based information about geriatrics(gapna.org, n.d.-b). The organization also has a clinical advisor program where members get information about career paths they can explore to achieve their desired professional development goals.
Conclusion
Professional organizations play an important role in nursing practice. They provide opportunities for personal and professional development for nurses. GAPNA is an example of a professional association that I will belong in the future. It advances the education, practice, research, and advocacy of healthcare providers involved in elderly care. It also provides its members’ opportunities for continuing educational and professional development. Therefore, I believe that its membership will enable me to achieve my personal and professional goals as a geriatric nurse.
References
gapna.org. (n.d.-a).About | Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association (GAPNA). Retrieved January 12, 2022, from https://www.gapna.org/about
gapna.org. (n.d.-b).Geriatric Nursing Journal | Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association (GAPNA). Retrieved January 12, 2022, from https://www.gapna.org/publications/geriatric-nursing-journal
Kaya, A., &Boz, İ. (2019).The development of the Professional Values Model in Nursing.Nursing Ethics, 26(3), 914–923. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733017730685
Rizany, I., Hariyati, R. T. S., &Handayani, H. (2018).Factors that affect the development of nurses’ competencies: A systematic review.EnfermeríaClínica, 28, 154–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1130-8621(18)30057-3
Topic 2 DQ 2
Aug 29-Sep 2, 2022
Describe how the nursing profession is viewed by the general public. Discuss factors that influence the public’s perception of nursing. Describe ways to educate the general public on the professional nurse’s role and scope of nursing within a changing health care system.
Paula Hemmings
Sep 4, 2022, 1:36 PM
Published
The nursing profession has seen several modifications since it’s inception. Nursing was originally connected with female- dominant caretaking and caring roles. The women lacked formal schooling and nursing training . They were mostly housewives with skills and expertise passed down from family members who wanted to help the sick. Their profession was not hampered in any manner ( Salmond & Echevarria, 2017).
Sade Riley
replied toPaula Hemmings
Sep 4, 2022, 9:24 PM(edited)
Hello Paula,
The roles of the nurse have definitely advanced and evolved. Nurses play a vital role in patient care and outcomes. A competent and well informed nurse could in fact be the difference between life and death with respect to patient care. As the training requirements for nursing have become more extensive so have the responsibilities. As nurses, we are the eyes and ears for the patient. We are trained to treat prophylactically and improve upon what we are able to with interventions coupled with patient education and advocacy. We have to understand clinical prioritization by being able to determine which scenarios require immediate attention and those that would not be drastically affected by delay of care. Unfortunately, this is not always understood by the public and may actually come off as non- competent and or negligent. It is up to us to display competence so that not only the public grasp better understanding of our roles but also our colleagues. We are a team and the physicians especially want to feel confident with respect to our competency so that we establish and maintain public trust.
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