ANA & You: History & Current Vision

Hypoxic Pixel Eyes · Apr 18, 2001

I'll second that,

I don't believe in the easter bunny any more.

I don't believe in colorful rhetoric.

I'm with The Wild One on this one"show me the money!"and I will be happy to be involved.I had been in contact with the MNM in the state I am moving to in advance for crying out loud,but it seems that my schedule for Nursing Activism has just become open.

I will donate time and money,but not to an organization that won't tell me how either is being spent.

Your welcome to solicit me for membership if I'm welcome to know how it will be used,otherwise you have something to hide that I really don't want to know about;just go away.

Hardknox · Apr 18, 2001

That was a really intelligent response, Level12. Wildtime has been right on the $ with many of her posts. If ANA is the answer to our problems, how come California and Massachusetts have disaffilliated?

rncountry · Apr 18, 2001

Trust me Wildtime, the MNM in no way can be compared to the ANA. At least people in the ANA know what they are doing.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Apr 18, 2001

Ok, Guys. I will contact our state director to obtain budget and financial information for ANA. We have nothing to hide from our members. Financial info is reviewed with delegates q 2yrs at convention time. When I attended in 86 and 92, we shot down several spending plans.

That is why in PA collective bargaining split off from the professional association because the cost to provide union representation was skyrocketing; yet RN's not involved in collective bargaining were having about $200.00 of their yearly dues going to this activity which they could not participate in.

Having been active for the past 18 years in ANA, I agree that bedside caregivers problems were not as well addressed as advanced practice....those who's voices clammer to be heard will get attention. If the average bedside RN doesn't participate, then how are we to know their problems???

I've only been out of field nursing for two years in intake/Utilization review. Never was seen as aggressive or a rabble rowser but with the way healthcare is going, and the difficulties I even have just getting Docs to sign careplans (after being ordered by facility discharge planners while pts on their service), lack of enough staff to see all the patients as much as we would like, and problems getting supplies/equipment ordered for patients, I feel that if I don't speek up now no one will be there fore me in the coming years when I reach beyond middle age.

Navy Nurse · Apr 18, 2001

To the Nursekaren post, sounds like the 12 items listed that the ANA plans on doing equal a bunch of committees and sub committees meeting to maybe coming to some agreement in 5yrs. Most of the items are problems that having been in nursing for yrs, what makes the year 2000 the time to address these issues. I especially like #2, preparing a disseminating a paper showing a critical nursing shortage, they are way behind since that has been covered on numerous TV and radio shows.

Where is their responsibility? What happens if none of the items come to pass? What is the timeframe? How do they propose to implement some of the staffing standards? I really don't think that getting 3 nurses in the House of Reps is going to get enough votes. Just sounds like a lot of political talk.

In Texas, we have a saying, "If you can't baffle them with your brillance, then burying them in your Bulls***." Using the words "develop" and "promote" are not action words.

natalie · Apr 18, 2001

Since 93% of America's nurses have never joined the ANA, exactly where do all you naysayers expect ANA's powerbase to come from?

I'll say it again. There are 2.6 MILLION RN's in this country. There are 180 THOUSAND members of the ANA. Any organization is only as strong as it's members.

To all nonmembers, exactly what do you hold the ANA accountable to with this simple math? Hold yourselves accountable instead.

ANA member

Christina Terranova RN · Apr 18, 2001

I generally refrain from doing posting like this, but.....The ANA, founded in the beginning of this century and incorporated originally in NY - was formed at a time when women were still considered in some circles as "chattel," property-and barely had the right to vote. To actually organize a group of women in that time frame must have been a tremendous event.

Forgive me fellas- but-We could all write in on the psychology of women in power, or psychology of the oppressed of women to illustrate the varying degrees of membership and representation within the ANA over the years. For what ever reasons, they may not have followed the exact path ALL of us-as MEMBERS wanted.

Well, today, in 2001 we as MEMBERS have EVERY chance to redirect our own history. WE are history in the making NOW. Our actions NOW will be the ones that will be looked upon one day and I hope it is with the reverence and respect I hold for those that blazed the trail for us.

It was in NY in 1965 that our legal right to be called REGISTERED NURSES was won. It was obtained through UNITY and a sense of dignity that we, as nurses, must reclaim. Sure, other organizations have claimed great recent success, and want to be on their own from ANA. But always remember they are building on what was GIVEN to them by those who came before us in ANA's past-not starting from scratch. Why should a near century of nurse activism be wholly discredited because of discontent with a small fraction of years [if you look at the situation as an time line equation]

Our colleagues who sit on the sidelines, yet judge, and report on the activities of others who are out there working to effect true change on our profession and ultimately patient care [that is WHY our profession exists]

will get angry when I say I think of them as "Howard Cosell Nurses", reporting play by play but never going out on the field to make a play themselves.

But they are. And that does not mean they are bad-all publicly outstanding areas of practice have their critics, their reviews, their efforts reported on. I have been slammed myself more than a few times.

But we must perhaps become theatrical-and despite some bad reviews-press on. Learn, practice, and ACT to change things for the better.

Any one of us can walk away from the bedside-or the ANA for that matter. Some of us are forced away due to disability, or other reasons. Some of us go to other areas to enact change where our strengths are better defined-But our patients cannot walk away. They do not have a choice if they are sick. They need healthcare.

What we must always remember is that our overall goal is to protect and provide safe quality patient care. That includes changing our work conditions to provide for safe nursing practice as well which I believe in this era only collective bargaining can do. We MUST take action. Lives are at stake, both ours, and our patients.

Forget the criticisms-just get involved and DO something.

Navy Nurse · Apr 18, 2001

History is always important to show us where we came from, but we seem to be stuck in the past. I don't care why the ANA was formed, I want to know what they are doing for nursing. Right now 18,000 members equates to 18 million dollars a year that is poured into the organization and if you got all 2.6 million to join you would be looking at 260 million dollars a year.

Show me some future plans of what they would do with the money and it would be easier to get people to join, but when the organization is still stuck on issues for 10 yrs, it shows stagnation.

Nurses need to get out of the Florence Nightgale era and empower themselves. Move up in the organization, flood the administration roles with nurses. Educate ourselves into CEO positions. There is nothing wrong with nurses making big dollars. These are ways to make changes without relying on the wheels of politics to do it for us.

natalie · Apr 19, 2001

Navy Nurse,

You're asking for a guarantee on the future without a confirmation of the past. What's the use? ANA has never had a chance, and never will with the little faith held by America's nurses.

I'd like to turn it around for you. What has 2.6 million nurses done for their profession over the last century?

Don't blame ANA, with it's miniscule representation and membership.

Jenny P · Apr 19, 2001

First of all, I pay something like $520 per year to MNA.

Of that money, $55 goes to my District association, where I am involved in the practice committee (it is the only committee I am currently active in, but through the years, I've been on numerous committees there). I also get reduced fees for CEU's that my District Assoc. sponsors; I pay between $15 and $21 for CEU programs that non-district members pay $35 for. Besides that, I get a newsletter that is sent out by the District, they sponsor scholarships, and give out awards and have a national nurses banquet that is fantastic.

Also out of my MNA dues, about $88 goes to the national association- ANA. From that money I receive both AJN and The American Nurse, a magazine and a newsletter that keep me current in what is happening in ANA. I can also get malpractice insurance, travel discounts, and several other perks I haven't used for quite some time. With my membership to ANA, I can receive "Action Alerts" as to what is happening on Capital hill that may impact nursing practice.

The rest of my dues goes to MNA, which does collective bargaining for my workplace, sends out a newsletter and encourages me to be involved in various activities in the Association. I have served on the Practice Commission at MNA, and have gone to MNA conventionsfor something like 20 of the past 21 years (I missed one when my daughter refused to be born prematurely). In those 20 years, MNA has encouraged it's members to be involved at all levels of the Association.

I have also been a delegate to the ANA convention for 10 years, and I was blown away by the Supervision and Delegation paper that was presented to the ANA convention back in 1991 (I think). That paper spoke of the risks to our licenses as more unlicensed personnel would be under our supervision. ANA saw the current shortage and problems facing the bedside nurse even back then.

MNA did an Executive Summary paper back in 1999 on "Concerns for Care" about the nursing shortage back then. Both ANA and MNA have been seeing these problems coming for several years. We have been trying to raise the nations' and also nursings' consciousness about these problems for at least 10 years. ANA has tried to get funding for nursing schools increased at the national level during this time. Instead it was cut.

I believe (and have found) that ANA is responsive to its' members as are the state associations. IF THE BEDSIDE NURSE IS NOT A MEMBER OF ANA, who does the state association speak for? By choosing not to be members, you have kept your (proverbial) heads in the sand and are suddenly taken by surprise because of the nursing shortage and mandatory overtime. I may not be happy with parts of the whole association, but BECAUSE I AM AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF THIS ORGANIZATION, I work to change it from the inside. Don't knock it until you have researched what you gain as a memeber of this organization.

If California has such a great nurses association, why do they have the worst nursing shortage of any state in the union? This is just a question that has been bothering me for a while; I am not trying to be obnoxious here, I really would like to know the answer to this question. Could someone please give me an answer ?

Jenny P · Apr 20, 2001

Wildtime, I've been on finance committees and also newsletter committes. When you start multiplying the "50 cents/ newsletter" by the number of members; figure in the time and cost for the association employees' work (plus their benefits, etc); things start to add up to quite a bit of $$$$. And if you haven't noticed there has been a change in postal rates and many newsletters are no longer able to afford to send them out.

I know you want to know where the money goes before you are involved with something. Are you also this cautious with your groceries, your church and your educational system? (sorry, I just had to throw that in- I guess I'm feeling a bit defensive because you are attacking something you have admitted to not ever being part of).

[This message has been edited by Jenny P (edited April 19, 2001).]