Professional Organizations Advocate for the Nursing Profession
Human beings 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. There are over a hundred national nursing associations and many other international organizations. The website, Nursing Organization Links (NOL, 2011), maintains a web-based list of organizations, yet acknowledges this list is not complete. Of the national and international organizations reviewed for this article, all but two are specialty-focused. Examples of these organizations include:
One might ask what occurred to bring the nursing profession from two fledgling nursing organizations (NLN and ANA) to this marked diversity of organizations. The answer lies in societal changes and increased demands on the nursing profession. Events, such as war, politics, regulation, legislation, and improved educational practices and settings, heavily influenced the direction of nursing and its practice. Regulation via licensure was an early major milestone in ensuring public safety and quality of care. In the face of war, nurses in the military developed specialty skills in trauma care and brought these critical care skills to many settings. Parallel with the development of specialization in the 1960s and 1970s, increases in practice-specific organizations developed. In the late 1970s ANA set in motion an era of change as it began discussions to restructure its constituency model. This moved the organization from the individual member model, in which specialty practice support was administered by 'sections and councils,' to the federation model, in which state nurses associations held the membership in ANA. As 'practice' sections were eliminated, nurses assembled new organizations according to specialty interests. This change coincided with ANA's support of nurse participation in unions resulting from the passage of the National Labor Relations Act of 1974 (personal communication June, 16, 2011, Corinne Dorsey, Committee on History, Virginia Nurses Association; ANA, 2009).
Each of more than one hundred organizations speaks for nurses and nursing, based on their mission and vision statements that are specific to their specialty interests, goals, and purposes. One national organization, the American Nurses Association (ANA), and one international organization, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) speak to the needs of, and advocate for all nurses and the nursing profession independent of specialty areas. Table 2 presents the purpose statements of these organizations.
History of Professional Nursing Organizations
Human beings 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. There are over a hundred national nursing associations and many other international organizations. The website, Nursing Organization Links (NOL, 2011), maintains a web-based list of organizations, yet acknowledges this list is not complete. Of the national and international organizations reviewed for this article, all but two are specialty-focused. Examples of these organizations include:
setting-specific nursing (ambulatory, perioperative, long-term care)
system-specific disorders or conditions (heart failure, nephrology, HIV-AIDS)
age periods along the continuum of life (neonate, pediatric, adult, geriatric)
ethnic- and cultural-specific (Hispanic, Black, Filipino, Male)
graduate level and advanced practice nurse specialties (Clinical Nurse Specialists, Nurse Practitioner, Certified Nurse Midwives, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, Nurse Executives and Administrators, Nurse Attorneys, Nurse Educators)
educational-level-specific (undergraduate [NLN, American Association of Colleges of Nursing, (AACN)]; graduate and professional staff development [NLN, AACN, National Nursing Staff Development Organization]).
One might ask what occurred to bring the nursing profession from two fledgling nursing organizations (NLN and ANA) to this marked diversity of organizations. The answer lies in societal changes and increased demands on the nursing profession. Events, such as war, politics, regulation, legislation, and improved educational practices and settings, heavily influenced the direction of nursing and its practice. Regulation via licensure was an early major milestone in ensuring public safety and quality of care. In the face of war, nurses in the military developed specialty skills in trauma care and brought these critical care skills to many settings. Parallel with the development of specialization in the 1960s and 1970s, increases in practice-specific organizations developed. In the late 1970s ANA set in motion an era of change as it began discussions to restructure its constituency model. This moved the organization from the individual member model, in which specialty practice support was administered by 'sections and councils,' to the federation model, in which state nurses associations held the membership in ANA. As 'practice' sections were eliminated, nurses assembled new organizations according to specialty interests. This change coincided with ANA's support of nurse participation in unions resulting from the passage of the National Labor Relations Act of 1974 (personal communication June, 16, 2011, Corinne Dorsey, Committee on History, Virginia Nurses Association; ANA, 2009).
Each of more than one hundred organizations speaks for nurses and nursing, based on their mission and vision statements that are specific to their specialty interests, goals, and purposes. One national organization, the American Nurses Association (ANA), and one international organization, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) speak to the needs of, and advocate for all nurses and the nursing profession independent of specialty areas. Table 2 presents the purpose statements of these organizations.