Are there any legitimate benefits of joining a national nursing association?

[NightNurse714]

In school these associations/ clubs were shown to me. There are yearly dues and they claim to offer certain benefits.

[elkpark]

What do you mean by "legitimate"? The organizations I'm aware of offer annual national conferences, and members get a significant discount on the registration costs. They often provide discounts on professional liability (malpractice) insurance. Most of the organizations I'm aware of publish a national journal and subscription is included in your annual membership dues. Many of the local chapters can be great networking resources. Many of the local chapters offer conferences and continuing education opportunities and members get discounts on the costs of those opportunities. Membership looks good on your CV; it's not a guarantee of anything, employment-wise, but you never know when that might give you an edge in a tight employment situation. Many of the organizations offer some kind of scholarship program for advancing your education.

Whether or not those benefits are of interest to you, and worth the cost of the annual dues, are personal choices.

[MikeyT-c-IV]

I belong to two organizations related to my specialty. I find it useful to remain a member as I have access to research and information that may otherwise take years to obtain through my place of employment. I'm a nerd like that.

Consider the value of membership vs the cost.

[NightNurse714]

What I mean by legitimate is worth while

[NightNurse714]

These are pretty much the benefits I figured come along with membership. As far as mental health, I have only seen one association so far. I'm taking it into consideration.

[elkpark]

The big organization in psychiatric nursing is APNA, the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. A smaller, specialty psych organization is ISPN, the International Society of Psychiatric Nurses. APNA is for all nurses practicing in (or interested in) psychiatric nursing. ISPN is (only) for nurses with graduate degrees.

APNA is, in my limited experience, a good group and they offer good conferences (national and some of the local chapters offer local/regional conferences) and a number of discounts to members. They also publish a journal (JAPNA).

[NightNurse714]

Excellent! Yes that is the one I saw, APNA. I imagine there is potential to land a job through this association as well. I think I read that they include special job searching tools as well exclusive to members. And of course if somebody interviews you who is a part of the organization that is a plus.