The American Nurses Association (ANA) is an organization to advance and protect the profession of nursing. Nurses across the country are standing together in order to remove barriers that are in place. Nurses want to better their lives and others by fixing nursing shortages, safety on the job, home health for Medicare patients, allowing nurses to work to their complete ability for veterans, and allowing a nurse 24/7 in the nursing home. The ANA is at the forefront of improving the quality of health care for all. The ANA lobbies both house of congress, as well as the federal agencies, on policies and legislation to bolster the number of RNs and nurse faculty. There has been a nursing shortage for years now, however, registered nurses are
Nurse practitioners are advanced practice registered nurses who have received special courses and training. They usually work closely with doctors and can perform many high-level primary care tasks. They often specialize in specific types of practice such as pediatrics, psychiatry, or obstetrics. Some establish private practices; however, most work in doctors' offices, hospitals, or neighborhood health centers. Their duties often include taking detailed medical histories and performing complete physical exams, providing diagnoses and recommending treatment plans, treating common medical conditions, illnesses, and injuries, prescribing limited medications, and counseling patients and families. They also care
To ensure that we as nurses are advocates for not only our patients, but also out communities as a whole, it is imperative for us to fully understand our scope of proactive and our voices that can be heard as an individuals but also as a collaborative voice in legislations by being in empowered professional groups such as the ANA. Promoting better health care polices benefits our society with better health outcomes as well as better financial futures since a healthier society wastes less money and resources when compared to one that does not promote health initiatives. One way to ensure that we as nurses are up to date on current policy and legislation issues is to join a professional group such as the ANA. Advocacy for health care policy requires knowledge and efforts of such large groups and active lobbyists that professional organizations can offer its members (Abood, 2007). Being well informed by a reputable and trust worthy group not only keeps one up to date on all current healthcare issues, but also gives access to resources to actively engage in proposed solutions so that nurses may better advocate for the patients and populations who are so greatly affected by healthcare
Nurses are the first to deal with patients such as, the aging population in the clinical or community setting, so they are well qualified to give expert testimony on health care reform. Before nurses can take a stance and gain a voice in the political arena, they must take on a new hat as an “advocate.” They can start their journey as a patient advocate by joining an association like The American Nurses Association (ANA). Associations like the ANA can mentor nurses venturing into the profession of patient advocacy; in addition to mentoring, the nursing associations can offer legislative days, policy internships, and conduct policy workshops to educate nurses on how to positively affect the legislation and policies at the state or federal level on health care
As the school year comes to an end, many high school careers with it, there's a lot of decisions that seniors have to think about. In order to better prepare themselves for life, many of the students and Gary High School have been doing research on both jobs and education. There are many things to consider when preparing for the future such as what to study during college and for the rest of your life. One particular student says that she would like to be a nurse, but she would have to endure many years of schooling and a rather large amount of clinical hours. This research paper outlines everything that would have to be done in order to secure someone's future as a registered nurse.
In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA gave many Americans the opportunity to have health care coverage that previously may have not been available to them. The reform is primarily aimed at decreasing the number of uninsured and underinsured Americans. The landscape of health care is changing and nursing is evolving alongside it. This health care overhaul gives nurses a vital role in leading the reform revolution. With more than three million strong, nursing is the biggest sector of the nation’s health care labor
Energized by the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding most of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the American Nurses Association (ANA) is continuing its wide ranging efforts to ensure that Registered Nurses (RNs) have an even greater role in providing high quality care as implementation of the landmark law progresses. As guiding principles, ANA contends that health care is a basic human right, and that all deserve access to essential health care services. As nurses witness every day, a lack of primary and preventive care can cause people's manageable chronic conditions to spiral, leading to poorer patient outcomes and increased overall health care costs. (Anonymous, 2012). According to Billings and Halstead (2012), nurses are poised to participate in transforming this nation's health care system. Participation requires nurses to possess political advocacy skills so that nursing voice is brought to the policy debates and policy development.
Quality patient care relies on having an educated workforce. There is a growing body of evidence that shows that the Bachelor of Science Nursing graduate brings unique skills to their work as nursing clinicians and play an important role in the delivery of safe patient care. In addition to having basic nursing fundamentals nurse’s today are expected to take a huge part and lead professional initiatives that drive towards improving the safety, quality, and efficiency of care that is delivered to patients.
The Healthcare reform is a public policy that is currently impacting the nursing practice. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was designed to address the cost, quality of healthcare and access to healthcare in the United States. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is “the 2010 health reform act that could extend insurance coverage to as many as 32 million Americans. The law also included regulations that affect the quality of coverage insurers must offer. Additionally, the law created a range of initiatives focused on encouraging reform in how medical care is organized and delivered, with a goal of reducing costs and improving quality and outcomes. Finally, other
The Oklahoma Board of Nursing (OBN) provides information to the public about the services of the Board of Nursing (OBN, n.d.). The purpose of the OBN is to “safeguard the public’s health by ensuring that licensed nurses are qualified and competent to practice” (OBN, n.d.). The public has access to the OBN to inquire on current licensed nurses, Nurse Practice Act, and guidelines about nursing care (OBN, n.d.). The American Nurses Association (ANA) is the “only full-service professional organization” that represents registered nurses’ interest through associations and partners (ANA, 2014). Their mission is “nurses advancing our profession to improve health for all” (ANA, 2014). They promote nursing practice by setting high standards, promoting nurses’ rights, leading a realistic outlook of nursing, and “by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public” (ANA, 2014). The National League for Nursing (NLN) is an organization for any nursing-related faculty offering “faculty development programs, networking opportunities, testing and assessment, nursing research grants, and public policy” (NLN, 2013). Their mission is to “promote excellence in nursing education to build a strong and diverse nursing workforce to advance the nations health” (NLN, 2013).
The association endeavors to enhance high standards of nursing practice by promoting safety and ethical decision making. The association represent nurses in lobbying regulatory agencies on issues related to policy and legal development. The association is involved in establishing the standards of nursing practice. It disseminates information to nurses though workshops, conferences and publications. The association publishes, American Nurse Today, The American Nurse, and The Online Journal of Issues in
There are over three million nursing professional in United States and they make the largest segment of nation’s health care workforce. Nurses can play a vital role in helping to realize the objectives set forth in the 2010 affordable act, legislation that represents the broadest health care overhaul since the 1965 creation of Medicare and Medicaid program (IOM 2010). Due to the restricting barriers nurses were not able to respond effectively to the changing health care systems. In 2008, The
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
According to the Texas, Nurse Practitioner can be well defined as a registered nurse who has advanced education and clinical training in a specialty area. They provide as a primary healthcare provider from children to the elderly population patients. They can address both acute and chronic disease conditions in the patients. Texas is more thorough and complete than the other states according to my own individual research. Board Rule 221 requires that one identifies the advanced practice role and population focus area for which you have been licensed as an advanced practice registered nurse by the Texas Board of Nursing.
Nurse Practitioners, or NPs, are advanced practice registered nurses who provide care to patients throughout their lifespan, from babies to the elderly. Nurse Practitioners perform comprehensive and focused physical examinations, manage high blood pressure, diabetes, depression and other chronic health problems. They a diagnose and treat common acute illnesses and injuries, provide immunizations,order and interpret diagnostic tests such as X-rays and EKG's, which are “noninvasive tests that is used to reflect underlying heart conditions by measuring the electrical activity of the heart” (“Electrocardiogram: Learn What The Results Mean”). They also perform laboratory tests, prescribe medications and therapies, perform procedures, and educate
American Nurses Association represented since 1974 represents as (ANA) goal- “improvement of the healthcare system in the United States”