For comparisons sake, I made a couple of phone calls -
First to the Texas Nurses Association – according to them, there are about 170,000 nurses in Texas, but only 3,800 of them are members of the Texas Nurses Association. That means that about 2% of all nurses in Texas are members of the TNA.
In contrast, the Texas Medical Association has 40,683 members as of March 31, 2006 according to a phone call placed to their membership department. There are about 53,000 physicians in Texas according to the Texas board of medical examiners. 76% of physicians are members of their professional organization.
HUH???? Are we listed in Webster's under the definition for apathy?
The way I see it - there needs to be one big Texas nurses group for RN's, LVN's and APN's that represents ALL nurses that is cheap enough to join no matter what else you belong to. There needs to be no questions about what degree you have - you only need to be a nurse or nursing student in some form or fashion. Elitism has not served the profession yet - it isn't ever going to.
It's as you said: TNA isn't that organization. Neither is ANA.
I'm a member of AACN. I'd be a member of TNA/ANA IF AND ONLY IF they rescind their attack on my participation in my profession. Until they do, I AM CHANGING THEIR ORGANIZATIONS by relegating them to obscurity by my LACK of participation. It's not apathy; it's my death wish to them as organizations writ large by my co-alienated peers.
Specializes in ICU, ED, Transport, Home Care, Mgmnt.
I have rarely agreed on the positons held by the ANA or TNA, they choose to keep the membership costs outrageously high and then wonder why no one joins. They have never represented my interests. I am a member of ENA and they do a good job. When TNA chose a Nurse of the year that I wouldn't allow to care for a dead rat:angryfire I completely lost any and all respect for them as an organization. You have to wonder what is their criteria is for choosing a great nurse. ? She pays her dues?:angryfire
However - being a member of a specialty org does not garner the profession as a whole any real legislative power. Perhaps all the specialty organizations need to form a coalition to leverage their numbers and stand for nurses in general.
Specializes in home & public health, med-surg, hospice.
I think specialty organizations are great to participate in. However, they surely can't be confused as an organization which addresses the concerns of the profession as a whole.
In fact, the very definition of "special": distinct among others of a kind; having a limited or specific function, application, or scope, implies separatism. Which don't get me wrong, specialty groups of nurses deserve distinction imo for their hard work and excellence and for what they have to offer. Yet, to think participation in x, y or z specialty organization is an adequate means of promoting/advocating the profession of nursing as a whole, is a mislead conception.
T' tell ya the truth, I think if this is the only means of representation a nurse participates in, that it actually contributes further to fragmentation within our profession. :chair:
Absolutely - fragmentation is our greatest enemy - just as the profession has fragmented itself with the LVN vs RNand the ADN vs BSN and any other number of many divisions so it has also fragmented itself with special interest groups. These special interest groups have their place and serve a need but they certainly DO NOT take the place of participation in a group which brings the profession TOGETHER AS A WHOLE.
Specializes in home & public health, med-surg, hospice.
I think one good strategy would be to lure specialty nurses into your organization by sponsoring/cosponsoring training sessions/inservices (a lot have to do this as part of maintaining their certification, etc.) for them as a way to unite/bring together nurses from different fields/levels - you know to "power-share."
We need to come up with something here and quick. Nursing is losing ground so fast that it isn't going to matter is we don't do something soon.
So change TNA/ANA, start a new group, form a coalition of orgs - whatever it takes....
we just need to get it done
I would disagree about nurses losing ground. I think as a group we are more powerful than we have ever been and more political. We have nursing unions now, pt/nurse staffing ratio laws in California, APNs have steadily been getting more privileges, and nurses as a group remain one of the most trusted professional groups. We don't need to lose focus, but we are no where near a crisis.
Also, most speciality groups, AACN/ENA etc., often team with the ANA to support particular policies.
Union won't fly in Texas nor would I want it to - You may be gaining ground in your state - but we are losing ground in Texas.
It isn't for lack of a union. It's for lack of a strong stable organization that is perceived as representing ALL nurses, not the just the elite few.
I am from Texas and have practiced in Texas as CNA, LVN, RN and was for awhile a graduate nursing student in Texas. I am active duty Air Force and currently, since June 2005, have been stationed in Biloxi, MS at Keesler AFB. Just in time to enjoy Hurricaine Katrina.....lol.
Maybe there are some specific issues that you are talking about that I am not aware of......but it has only been about three years ago that the APNs gained privledges to prescribe narcotics in Texas...A big milestone for independence in APN practice.
I would enjoy discussing particular issues, but I am not aware of anything particular on the RN level in Texas that is not common to all of RNs everywhere in the US. APNs are another issue altogether...When I finally finish my MSN I am sure I will join another speciality organization that will represent my nursing interests in APN.
Oh I forgot to mention........CONGRATULATIONS on your pending graduation!!!!!!!!!!
ZASHAGALKA, RN
3,322 Posts
It's as you said: TNA isn't that organization. Neither is ANA.
I'm a member of AACN. I'd be a member of TNA/ANA IF AND ONLY IF they rescind their attack on my participation in my profession. Until they do, I AM CHANGING THEIR ORGANIZATIONS by relegating them to obscurity by my LACK of participation. It's not apathy; it's my death wish to them as organizations writ large by my co-alienated peers.
~faith,
Timothy.