[moonshadeau]

http://allnurses.com/forums/showthre...threadid=34098

In response to rstewart without highjacking Karens post.

Quote
It seems that whenever the ANA is criticized, the inevitable "You only get out of an organization what you put into it" appears.The implication is that you should join the ANA in order to effect the changes in nursing which you desire; then, if the organization remains unresponsive, it is your own fault because you apparently did not put enough into it.

One would not seriously advise an African-American to join the Klan, so they might change that organization's collective minds regarding civil rights. People who desire a ban on handguns are not joining the National Rifle Association in an attempt to further their agenda, nor would they be expected to.

My point here, is that in my view the ANA is not merely unresponsive; their agenda, philosophy, priorities etc. are vastly different from mine. Their filing of the amicus is a prime example: Here is an organization which for decades has supported the BSN as the minimum educational preparation for professional practice. And now they say that race based preferences are acceptable in gaining admission to college programs. Therefore, this is an organization which believes that as an AD prepared nurse, I am not sufficiently educated to perform my job, but if I choose to obtain a BSN, others should be given preference in the admissions process because I am of the "wrong" race. Now---why would I lend financial support to such an organization? [/b][/quote]





In order not to highjack Karen's post, I decided to open a thread to address Rstewart's concerns re: ANA.

My first question to you is that you are obviously anti-ANA, but have you ever done the research on the issues that the ANA supports or opposes that is good for nursing. You state that the ANA supports the entry level practice to be a BSN. I personally have not seen reference to this in a while, but I know that it has been an issue with the ANA.

But if every AD nurse is turned off with the entry level practice and chooses not to join because of this issue, whom does that leave. That leaves the educators, administrators, managers and entrepeneurs that most likely have at least a BSN. Of course these people support this thought since that is what they have. So basically you have cut off your unity in standing as one group of AD nurses within the organization to say "NO, I don't believe that the BSN should be entry level". By not joining, all you have said is that you (the individual nurses) say that you are angry but you are not going to do anything about it. How passive agressive is that? And it is very typical of nursing. It is very easy to complain about something, but it is much harder to take an active approach toward change.


In that is what I believe that Karen meant by saying "you get out of it what you put in".

I can tell you that my state organization is very interested in what the staff nurse has to say. So much so that we have organized a staff nurse special interest group to address the needs of the average staff nurse within the workplace. The problem is that nurses expect immediate results. Working for a change will never provide immediate results.

The ANA is looking to unite all nurses within all nursing organiztions. By being a member of AACN or any other affiliate organization, you can have a voice within the ANA is proposed. Along with that, there is a push to have the choice to belong to a state organization, and the national or just belonging to either group individually.

I know that you stated the organization is unresponsive. I would like to know the background and context of your statement. Is this just a generalization or do you have an actual experience to share so that we can improve the system, rather than have someone complain about it.

I have gone on long enough, I am just very tired of people saying negative things about an organization that is trying to effect change within nursing that persons have never taken the time to have been a member or learn about the possibilities.

Is the ANA perfect? No, far from it. But it requires imput from all nurses of all walks of life to be vocal.Quote

[rstewart]

Please excuse my belated response to your posting as I was out of state during the past week.

With respect to your question regarding my knowledge of the ANA's positions, statements etc.: Yes, I have had the opportunity to read various ANA's position papers, statements and the like. I also make an effort to stay abreast of current issues affecting nursing practice. One need not be uninformed in order to reach the conclusion that ANA membership is not in their best interests. Quite the contrary, in fact. Neither, incidentally need they be passive aggressive personalities as you have suggested.

Although the ANA has not issued a specific update on their entry to practice position of the 60s, they have on numerous occasions reconfirmed their original position in other contexts and through other "arms" of the organization. The continuuing education opportunity in support of this position appearing as a current post on this bulletin board is but one example. Another would be the ANA's support given to "board certify" BSNs by offering general certification exams to only those nurses.

You have observed that if every AD prepared nurse behaved as I do, the ANA would be comprised primarily of educators, managers, administrators and entrepeneurs. I would tend to agree; in those states with non existent or weak collective bargaining arms, that is exactly the case. And in terms of raw numbers, the ANA's membership is anemic for this self proclaimed voice of nursing. But predictably, you have come to the conclusion that the problem lies not with the organization, but rather in the nursing population from which they hope to solicit membership. Ahhh...if only the masses were not so uninformed, passive aggressive, impatient and undereducated, they would be tripping all over themselves to join.

I found it amusing that you found the formation of a special interest group to address the needs of the average staff nurse as a positive measure. (But of course the "others" just don't understand as you do that meaningful change takes time.) But perhaps, just perhaps the others realize that the issues have been identified and talked to death. Maybe they regard such groups as symbolic of the ANA's efforts for direct care nurses----too little, too late; much talk and little action.

I disagree with your statement that the ANA wants to unite nurses. Regardless of ones individual position I think most nurses would agree that the entry to practice issue and affirmative action are clearly divisive to nursing. Yet even during this "shortage" of bedside nurses, the ANA continues with their agenda.

Since you asked I will give but one example of my state organization's unresponsiveness. Keep in mind it is but ONE example. Back when I was a nursing student, entry to practice came up as a state bill. It was written with the help of the state organization. Well, we students were assigned current topics to research and that was mine. I prepared a letter well in advance of my presentation to their organization with a request to interview them; I also presented all proposed questions for their review. Their response? Not even a formal letter. Someone just scribbled a note on my original letter to look up the answers myself in the state newsletter. I did so but found none of the answers to my questions. That was my initial exposure to my state organization and years later I still have saved that snotty response.

Incidentally, in closing I should note that North Dakota, the only state which has the BSN as the minimum educational preparation to enter professional nursing practice has been considering reversing that law--- So much for ANA's relevence to the real world.

And hopefully the Supreme Court will within days rule against the ANA's position that preference should be given to people based solely because of their skin color.

[oramar]

I have said this several times in the past year. I can see things changing. I think the ANA has come a long way recently. True they are late to the revolution. I think those splinter groups that formed were the catalyst for change. Imagine the shock to the status quo when a large percent of your members get up and walk out and form their own association. I have had a lot of complaints just like the ones stated here. I am ready to let go and step into the future. The real time problems like manditory overtime and deskilling are being addressed. Being retired it is a big help, both PASNAP and ANA give you half price membership. I had to be unemployed in order to be able to afford to join the ANA, isn't their something ironic about that?