NURS 430 Discuss How Professional Nursing Organizations Support Nursing Field
NURS 430 Discuss How Professional Nursing Organizations Support Nursing Field
As we explore planned events frequently bring together groups of people for a shared goal. This week, the Million Nurse March is taking place in Washington, D.C. to push for safe practice. These activities will be supported by several of our professional organizations. Have you ever been to a lobbying session to promote or against healthcare legislation? You should participate in the process if you haven’t already.
I’ve never done anything like this before. However, as I learn more about the political structures that influence aspects of my chosen work, I am becoming more interested in participating. Some of the march’s issues are quite similar to those being negotiated by my union for the new hospital contract.
The most recent source of contention is the salary cap. I’ll take a chance and see if I can get it right, but you’ve got to be kidding me. During a pandemic, the hospital’s poor management and nursing investment set off this chain reaction. Hospitals invest in themselves rather than in their patients or caregivers. We were let go because the procedures were canceled and they needed to keep their profit margins intact. We had to work longer hours to compensate for everyone and their mother being sick, have dangerous patient ratios that put both patients and ourselves at risk, and work in the most dangerous scenarios. Nurses have had enough of being treated as second-class citizens. People went on vacation in large numbers. At the very least, the money was worth the stress of dealing with hospitals. The hospitals then complain that travel agencies make an excessive amount of money. People who believe in the free market and the laws of supply and demand. Do you understand what I’m saying? The domino effect has completed its circle. If they had cared about and invested in their employees rather than their own and stakeholders’ profits, they would have had nurses.
upport the field of nursing and how they advocate for nursing practice. Explain the value professional nursing organizations have in advocacy and activism related to patient care.
have goals of bettering health care practice and standards and also a goal of representing nurses and supporting them in the profession. Professional nursing organizations want to make the environment for the professionals good in turn helping to make the patient care/ outcomes good. Professional nursing organizations are responsible for the development and certification of nurses interested in improving health care and providing safe quality nursing care. Through participation in professional organizations, nurses can actively contribute to legislative changes that can affect patient care and the way they conduct their work (Helbig 2018). Nursing organizations advocate for nursing practice through publicly and legislatively outlined rules and regulations that depict standards of practice, this helps nurses have a written guideline for their profession, it helps to outline the directive of what is ok to do as a nurse.
As a result, the nurse is protected and advocated for, and the nurse is educated and informed so that they can keep their license by practicing within their scope of practice. In the standards of practice, the nursing process, a critical-thinking model, is used to describe a competent level of nursing practice (Bickford, Marion, & Gazaway, 2015). The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a non-profit organization that advocates for nurses and educates the public about issues affecting the nursing profession. Organizations such as The International Council of Nurses recognize nurses as leaders in the medical field because they are on the front lines with patients; they spend a significant amount of time at the bedside and have the ability to collect real-time data; and they are educators and administrators. This empowers nurses, and legislators look to nurses as policy leaders. Being present at the bedside enables the nurse to provide feedback to policymakers on what is and is not working in terms of patient safety and patient-centered care. “The International Council of Nurses is a federation of national nursing associations dedicated to empowering nurses to speak with one voice to influence health policy and advance the nursing profession” (Benton, 2012). The ANA has advocated for topics such as safe staffing, nursing workforce development (pushing nurses to obtain higher levels of education such as a BSN), and safe patient handling, among many others, in the nursing arena. All of these are directly related to improving the environment in order to improve patient outcomes.
The ANA states that “ and associations in nursing are critical for generating the energy, flow of ideas, and proactive work needed to maintain a healthy profession that advocates for the needs of its clients and nurses, and the trust of society. People have a tendency to congregate, talk among themselves, and advocate for their causes. This has certainly occurred in nursing as evidenced by the breadth and depth of the various nursing groups that seek to enhance the work of nurses generally and in their specialty areas (2020, p. 2). There are over a hundred national nursing associations and organizations. The List of Nursing Organizations website, maintains a web-based list of organizations to name a few there are: Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses, Academy of Neonatal Nursing, American College of Nurse Practitioners, Advanced Practice Nurses of the Ozarks, Association of Pediatric Oncology, etc. These organizations support the interest of nurses who practice in specific clinical environments. As an example,The Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses (APHON) supports nurses and their practice in order to optimize outcomes for children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer and blood disorders and their families. Nursing Organizations may very well be the foundation of professional development. The ANA says “When you are a member in a nursing organization this unites you with your peers. When nurses unite they have a stronger voice in the political arena on local, state and national level (2015, p.1).
Changes in health care occur daily being a member in “provides nurses with continuing education, certification opportunities, role-related competencies and educational conferences”(AMN,2015). To fulfill their mission, nursing organizations further the development of nursing standard of practice, expand the body of knowledge through research and evidence based practice and promote nurses’s general welfare in the workplace. As we can see there are many advantages when you are a member of a nursing organization, nurses should be active in the organizations so that this way we can advocate for our patients and improve the health of our communities.
References
American Nurses Association [ANA]. (2015). ANA President Pamela F. Cipriano, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, Responds to Comments on ABC’s “The View” [Press release]. Retrieved from
American Nursing Association. Role of Professional Organizations in Advocating for the Nursing Profession. Retrieved from
AMN Healthcare, Inc. Nursing Organizations: The Role they Play in Professional Development. Retrieved from
Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses. Retrieved from
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RESPOND HERE (150 WORDS, 2 REFERENCES)
Monica, I concur with that professional nursing associations play a vital role of generating the energy, flow of ideas, and proactive work required to maintain a robust profession that champions for the needs of patients, nurses, and the larger society. Moreover, the organizations provide a platform that brings nurses together to advocate for their causes (Debbie Cline, Kimberly Curtin & CEN, 2019). That is, the membership to the nursing organizations unites nurses to have strong voice in the policy and political issues at local, state, and national levels. Essentially, every nurse should strive to join these organizations due to massive benefits that the organizations have in influencing nursing profession and improving of the patients outcomes. Benefits joining nursing organizations include promotion of continuous professional development is critical in ensuring that nurses maintain competency, support provision of evidence-based practices, foster professional nursing practice, and support realization of career goals (Echevarria, 2018). Moreover, health care system is ever-changing. As such, nursing organizations equip nurses with competencies and skills to face the changes.
References
Debbie Cline, D. N. P., Kimberly Curtin, D. N. P., & CEN, C. (2019). Professional Organization Membership. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 23(5), 543-546.
Echevarria, I. M. (2018). Make connections by joining a professional nursing organization. Nursing2019, 48(12), 35-38.
Re: Topic 5 DQ 1
assist and improve the nursing field through professional development, lifelong learning, and assistance and improvement of professional nursing practice (ANA 2010). Members of nursing organizations such as the American Nurses Association and the National League for Nursing are able to gain a broad range of support in the nursing field while also improving nurses’ knowledge in the field. “Organizations such as the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the Society of Pediatric Nurses, and the National Association of Orthopedic Nurses, among others, are focused on disease processes (diabetes, renal, cardiac), healthcare settings (hospital, clinic, surgical), age (pediatrics, geriatrics), or advanced practice (Clinical Nurse Specialists, Nurse Executives, and Nurse Educators),” according to the article (Matthews, 2012). These nursing organizations help with professional development as part of the organization’s benefits. Membership in the organizations simply brings them together with other nurses and allows them to collaborate on a higher level. Nurses can organize for causes and have their voices heard at the state and national levels (Matthews, 2012). Nurses should continue their education by joining nursing organizations. Finally, nurses who are members of nursing organizations can network with others in their specialty, have a stronger collective voice, and stay up to date on evidence-based practice and changes.
References
American Nurses Association [ANA]. (2010). Nursing Professional Development: Scope and Standards of Practice. Silver Spring, Maryland: Nurses Books.org
Matthews, J.H. (2012). Role of professional organizations in advocating for the nursing profession. Retrieved from www.medscape.com/viewarticle/766817_print
RESPOND
This is an exceptional work Ross. In concurrence, there are numerous benefits nurses can gain in joining the nursing organizations. As such, every nurse should purpose to join at least one nursing organization. Nursing advocacy is among the various benefits of nursing organizations. Advocacy is the key in nursing and nurses tend to advocate for their patients, profession, and causes. The nursing organizations help in articulating nursing integrity, values, social policy, and practice by soliciting and coordinating opinions from individual nurses, nursing specialties, and associations (Halstead, 2017). The advocacy efforts by the nursing organizations aims at educating its members and the public about the essence of creative ideas, vigorous participation, and team work spirit in helping nursing practice to move ho greater levels. The associations are also vital in meeting the changes experienced in the cultural, social, and economic sectors. The unity of nurses through nursing organizations enables nurses to speak in one voice, and ensure vibrant and powerful ideas that can be used to realize advocacy outcomes (Ainagul, 2020).
References
Ainagul, N. (2020). Development and Integration of Professional Nursing Associations in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Halstead, J. A. (2017). Professional nursing organizations. Issues and trends in nursing: Practice, policy, and leadership, 107-118.
Re: Topic 5 DQ 1
Professional nursing organizations help the nursing profession by improving health care and establishing nursing practice standards (Helbig, 2018). There are numerous professional organizations dedicated to advocating for nurses, which in turn helps to advocate for the patients the nurses serve. The American Nurses Association is one of them (ANA). The ANA advocates for nurses in all branches of government, particularly for legislation affecting workplace issues such as safe staffing ratios, mandatory overtime, patient transfers, and workplace violence (Helbig, 2018). It is critical that nurses understand they are not alone; there are numerous organizations collaborating and advocating for them, which affects patient advocacy as well (Helbig, 2020). Professional nursing organizations place a high value on patient care by bringing the most pressing issues to the attention of nurses. The primary concern of nurses is patient safety and achieving the best possible outcome for their patients. Professional organizations work to find solutions to any problems that arise. The national patient safety goals were developed in response to the IOM report’s areas of greatest concern, and they are updated annually. These goals have become part of everyday nursing practice (Helbig, 2018). I have a tag on my name badge from work that contains the most recent safety concerns for nurses. This year’s hospital safety goals are to: correctly identify patients, improve staff communication, use medications safely, use alarms safely, prevent infections, identify patient safety risks, and prevent surgical errors (Joint Commission,2020). All of these goals advocate for patients’ rights and work to meet their need for safe, competent care, which is also the goal of nurses.
Reference:
Helbig, J. (2018). Professional engagement. In Grand Canyon University (Eds.), Dynamics in Nursing: Art
and Science of Professional Practice. https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs430v/dynamics-in-nursing-artand-science-of-professional-practice/v1.1/#/chapter/5
Joint Commission, (2020). Hospital: 2020 National Patient Safety Goals. https://www.jointcommission.org/standards/national-patient-safety-goals/hospital-2020-national-patient-safety-goals/.
RESPOND HERE
This is a great work Samantha. It is undoubted that professional nursing organizations provide significant support to the nursing practice by enhancing health care and clinical setting’s standards for the nursing practice. Moreover, the organizations are instrumental in enhancing patient care by highlighting and addressing challenges faced by nurses and providing continuous training to equip nurses with competencies for patient care. On the other hand, Halstead (2017) argues that the organizations also provide effective means that nurses can use influence areas of healthcare policy, represent and safeguard the interest of nurses and nursing practice, and advocate for sophisticated quality of care to the public among others. Membership to the nursing organization also helps individual nurses to stay updated on the issues that affect their specific areas of practice and nursing roles. Engagement in nursing organizations is also critical in fostering leadership development, provide networking opportunities, increase collaboration skills, and facilitate career development. The organizations also promote the welfare of nurses in the workplace, facilitate research to expand EBP and body of knowledge in nurses, and develop nursing standards of practice (Lowe & Jennings, 2017).
References
Halstead, J. A. (2017). Professional nursing organizations. Issues and trends in nursing: Practice, policy, and leadership, 107-118.
Lowe, G., & Jennings, T. (2017). Nurse Practitioner Professional Nursing Organisation Engagement. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 13(9), 642.
