I am a senior at OU's BSN program and I am very anxious to graduate and start working here in Oklahoma. My question to those who are already working as nurses, are you a member of any national and/or state nursing organizations like the ANA, and if you could guess, how many nurses are involved in nursing organizations (out of those you know or work with)? What is your opinion on there usefulness, and how much time does work + your personal life allow you to actively participate in these kinds of issues? I'm also curious about what other Oklahoma nurses think about unions and nursing.

I hope to hear back from lots of folks on this, I never have time to discuss these subjects with the nurses I work with in clinicals, we are too busy.

I, although not a member right now, feel that ANA/ONA are very important for our protection and survival. This is a very trying time for the healthcare field and we have to take care of ourselves. The State Board of nursing is also very important in nurses monitoring our regulation and practice. Their meetings are mostly open to public and the networking can be invaluable. Hope to see you out and about as a Real Nurse soon. Congrats. I was an OU grad also, a few years ago... If you haven't made a decision for employment yet, you should come by and see St Anthony's.

The grass is only greener on the other side because it has more fertilizer (clean version)..

RON

I honestly don't know any nurses that do belong to the organizations. I do believe they are a good practice in thoery and I am glad that there are some nurses thatcan find time to devote to these organizations but most of the nurse I work with need their time off when they get it to recouperate

p.s that guy RON must be a little soft in the head.... LOL guess who Ron

I understand the need to rest and recouperate when off-duty, and I think it is very important. But I still say that it takes very little effort to support the ANA, just joining and paying dues probably helps out a ton. Of course if your like me, you want to know who your'e giving money to, and what they do with it. I still have this feeling that any little bit helps, and just being a paying member would do a lot.

There's got to be a good reason why most nurses don't join, I'll admit I don't know, but it simply bugs me to death that the members of a profession don't join their own professional organization. If there is a good reason why membership is so low, then I hope to be part of the solution of getting rid of whatever that barrier is, and if there is no good reason for the low membership, I hope more nurses will begin to join.

I know I must sound like a little greenhorn here, I'm not even out of school yet, but my youth and idealism must be here for something.