Nursing Associations

I can only answer your question by telling you about my experiences with nursing associations and why I think they are important to me. There is nothing like the sense of security you feel when you know you are not alone! Look at how much we all enjoy this "association" of allnurses.com. It's a place to find people with common ideas and ideals; with different abilities and experiences. Where else can you geet an answer to a nursing concern that has got you absolutely stumped and know that the information is correct? (and usually they tell you wherre th einfo came from so you can see for yourself and we can all learn something new!)
If a particular legislative issue is coming up on the state or national level (ie Health Care Reform) you can be sure the whatever association needs to pay attention to that issue is right there on the front lines, being advocates for ourselves and our patients.
It's true that some of the dues involved can be a little steep in today's economially challenging times, but some organizations have assciate membership levels or a particular journal that they put out monthly. Why not subscribe to the journal so you know what is going on in your particular field of interest? A lot of these journals offer limited internet access to the organization's site to be more inclusive to those of us who have tight budgets!
I hope you can see why I feel my association (NASN - National Association of School Nurses) is so important to me that I am sending this year's subscription fee in this Friday!! (I told you money was tight!!!!)
If it's stiil out of range for some of you right know .. this association will be here for you, thanks to the hard working staff of allnurses.com THANKS GUYS!!!!!!!:redp inkhe

OP: It is important to me to join the ANA and the ENA because I have always wanted to be involved politically in areas of interest to me and these professional organizations are involved in health care issues that concern me the most. Also, one of the reasons I wanted to be a nurse is because I would have an opportunity to be a part of associations that gave me a voice in my profession.

Prior to nursing I worked two careers, where I was unable to join associations or expand my training in the way I wished because one career was not well organized and the other did not allow those without a Masters to join! Therefore, I was not considered a licensed professional in the same sense I am now (I had a scope of practice dictated by the State in which I lived but not an entity like the BON or others like me). In fact, I envied other licensed professionals to include nurses because I saw the impact associations had on their careers.

Associations enhance one's ability to network, train, receive support, and advocate for issues of concern to professional practice. Without them you have people who do not work in your field (or did so decades ago) dictating to you how you should practice, what training and support you need, and you have no one advocating on your behalf! In fact, I can still picture a time when I was in a training to become certified in something useless to me because a state official dropped by my place of employment to tell me and others it was necessary. Meanwhile this state official last did a job similar to mine 20 years ago and there was no one like myself involved in developing the useless training I took!!!

BTW, if money is an issue, save up. In the meantime go to your local library and start reading the journals for free. It took me six months to join the ANA and over that to join the ENA. I joined the ANA with the New Grad discount AND with the monthly payments (Sad but true). The ENA I joined by selling some of my old Nursing School textbooks. Also, I joined the ENA before getting an ER job. If you have interests in various areas of nursing (it does not matter if you work in that environment yet), I highly suggest either joining a related organization and/or start reading the professional journal of that specialty. GL!