American Nurses Association: Joining The Nursing Profession

Nursing is a practice in which nurses promote health and the well-being of patients. I believe that nursing is not only a job that prevents and cures illness, but has a deeper meaning and understanding. Becoming a nurse gives the opportunity to maximize and promote patients’ well-being. It is a way to learn and understand new perspectives and expand prior knowledge, to build relationships with patients, community, and other nurses, in addition to learning how to empathize and realize the patient’s needs, and to value and see people as human beings. I think even with the list given is not enough to define or explain a nurse. I believe being a nurse is a diverse and immeasurable experience, and what happens in this field is unknowing and uncertain. My goal in nursing practices is to take in life experiences and use the skills and ideas learned to shape me to become a better nurse and a better person.

A career trajectory is a formalized plan for a successful transition into a career path that an individual has chosen. Likewise, the goal of nursing is to improve health through the advancement of knowledge therefore, improving the safety, effectiveness, and the access for healthcare. In combining these two definitions, a career trajectory in nursing advancement is to allow for clarity of direction and expected outcomes in a career by meeting the goals to advance in the healthcare field. In order to build a successful career as an advanced practitioner an individual must consider the requirements of the position and make strategic decisions in order to facilitate progression towards this goal (Feetham & Doering, 2015).

The role of professional nursing organizations is to advocate for the nursing profession and for the nurses working in the profession. These organizations work to create proactive work to help maintain a healthy nursing profession that not only thinks about the needs of the client but also of the nurses caring

Professional organizations play important roles in regulating professional practice and supporting, the role of State Boards of Nursing in their roles. Professional organizations 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 (Matthews, 2012). The characteristics and role of the history of professional nursing organizations, is the advocacy activities, of professional nursing organizations, directly related to the State Boards of nursing and practice (Health Care Reform, 2017 and Matthews, 2012)

The Professional Nursing Organizations and Regulatory Agencies for Nursing are what nursing professionals look to for standards, guidance, support, rules and regulations, along with licensure and discipline if necessary. One example of a professional nursing organization (PNO) would be the American Nurses Association (ANA). The role of the ANA includes: promotion/ development of the nursing profession, involvement with legislation and policy making, supporting the nurse in order for the nurse to provide quality care for the those receiving care. The mission statement of the ANA is simple and direct... "nurses advancing our profession to improve health

According to American Nurses Association nursing can be defined as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness”. (American Nurses Association 2016) Nursing is a career where a person, should have compassion, a caring heart, and be devoted to their client care. Sometime person goes into the nursing field for the money, job stability, and because a person 's family member wants them to go into the nursing field. I feel like the future of nursing have yet to be determined.

Nurses join professional nursing organizations to “have a voice in issues that affect nursing practice and to stay current in their field of specialty” (UC Davis Medical Center, 2016).

In the medical field there is a great variety of careers to specialize. The most known employees in a hospital setting or even in a doctor’s office, will be a nurse. According to aacn.nche.edu, Almost 66% of Registered Nurses work in hospitals, many also are more advanced in their practices and work in doctor’s offices. When entering a field like nursing, numerous classes of science are taken. Nurses perform numerous skills that include starting IVs, giving medications to patients, keeping patients alive, and also monitoring medical changes pertaining to the health of their patient.

In the United States alone there are well over three million registered nurses as of 2015, with just over two hundred thousand of that total practicing within the state of Florida (Total Number of Professionally Active Nurses, 2015, n.p.). With that being said, there are many different nursing organizations available within the United States to represent not only the registered nurse, but also to represent the student nurse as well. Several nursing organizations are geared towards specialties, ethnicity, location, education level or gender (Matthews, J., 2012, n.p.). Nursing organizations also lobby federally for the profession as a whole as well as for the public (Schroeder, R., 2013, August, pg.99). For the purpose of this paper I will

Nurses are consistently rated as one of the most trusted professionals in the United States. One of the reasons for this distinction may be the many nurses who obtain specialty certification within their practice area. Certification confirms the nurse has acquired a level of skill and knowledge above average (Rauen, Shumate, & Gendron-Trainer, 2016). It is important to me to obtain certification when I complete the master’s program in informatics at American Sentinel University. This paper will discuss the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) eligibility requirements to become board certified, the competencies required on the certification test, describing those I have mastered, those I have been

The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a full-service professional organization that symbolizes the interests of registered nurses through its constituent and state nurses associations. The ANA implements the nursing profession by raising high standards of nursing practice, honoring the rights of nurses in the work field, promoting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by pushing the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public. Their mission statement is, “Nurses advancing our profession to improve health for all.” Some of ANA’s main focuses are reformation of the health care system so that it delivers primary health care in the communities, growing roles for

In the early 1980s it came to light that while the supply of nurses had reached a record high, only 80% of hospitals nationwide had adequate nurse staffing levels (American Nurse Credentialing Center, 2011, p. 8). To address this issue a taskforce was formed within the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). Through an initial study of 165 hospitals, the AAN determined the characteristics of healthcare organizations that were magnetically attracting and retaining nurses as employees (American Nurse Credentialing Center, p. 9). In this study the AAN found “Forces of Magnetism” that contributed to the high level of job satisfaction amongst nurses, superior quality of care, low job turnover, and high level of nurse involvement in leadership, decision-making, and research. In the early 1990s, catapulted by the findings of this initial study, the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) developed the Magnet Recognition Program. The intention of the ANCC’s Magnet Recognition Program was threefold: To reward hospitals that demonstrated “excellence in the delivery of nursing services to patients;” to encourage quality in the nursing work environment to support practicing professional nurses; and to guide navigation for the dissemination of evidenced-based clinical nursing practice (American Nurse Credentialing Center, 2011, p. 14).

As an example, let’s take a peak at my plan:     Freshman Year Volunteer at hospital Get a laboratory research position Train to be a nursing assistant  Get a typical college job Determine major (And I can proudly say check to all of the above.)     Sophomore Year Work as CNA Volunteer with children Conduct research Find work in fitness Train as an EKG Study abroad     Junior Year Work as EKG tech Volunteer widely Conduct research Study abroad Find an internship Train for scribing     Senior Year Work as medical scribe

Professional organizations were created to assist in the growth and development of a profession (Black, 2014). For example, nurses use organizations to improve health and working conditions that result in changing the way health is delivered to a population (Black, 2014). These organizations allow individuals to express their opinions on current issues, enhance their knowledge of the profession, and facilitate relationships with other individuals that share the same interest and concerns. To get a better understanding of these groups, I explored the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) website to see what information I could collection.

Nursing is a hard and rewarding job from what I have learned so far. I have friends who are nurses and they work long hours but love their job. One of them is about to get deployed to Afghanistan to work in an operating room. She hopes she gets to sit around, because the alternative would mean that someone has gotten hurt. Troops know when they see medical personal that they have hope in surviving when they are wounded. I know this because I am a Medical Technician in the United Air Force Reserves and I hear it quite often. I want to continue to help others by becoming a nurse, one of the most trusted professions according to a 2012 Gallup poll (Newport). This paper is about my journey into the nursing profession. It is a reflective essay to address the following topics: life-long learning, spiritual formation, professional development, personal transformation, excellence in the profession of nursing and Christian nursing community/biblical worldview. I am no Florence Nightingale, who knew nursing was her calling but I do admire her commitment in serving the military and transforming nursing as we know it today. My goal for my future, is not to be well known as she was but to make a difference in people’s lives as she did by contributing her life to the nursing profession. Nightingale was a life-long learning who wrote books, articles and pamphlet during her lifetime.