Why don't nurses join the ANA?

[gauge14iv]

I am curious - if you are not a member of the ANA, why not?

Don't forget the Poll at the top!

[marilynmom, LPN, NP]

Wow, this is a great topic. I can honestly say I know nothing about the ANA except for reading their position paper on BSN as entry level, even though I am getting my BSN.

So what is a good nursing organization to join??

[PANurseRN1]

They certainly don't want to represent lowly bedside nurses. It's all about advanced practice or lobbying for their preferred political candidates. The average nurse just doesn't interest them.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I think they are elitist and have too broad a social/political agenda. If they stuck to NURSING issues (wouldn't it be great if they'd educate the public as to what we actually do, so that we might get a little more respect?) they might have more credibility.

I don't like their emphasis on unions. I've been a union nurse, but only because I worked in a hospital where you had to join as a condition of employment. I've seen this create adversarial relationships between staff and management, even where there was no need for it to be that way.

I also have a problem with the organization because it leaves out LPNs and looks down its nose at anyone who doesn't have a BSN or higher. Even its monthly magazine, the American Journal of Nursing, is written at a level which can make a less 'educated' nurse feel very much out of their league. It's called the American NURSES' Association---shouldn't that include ALL nurses?

Just my two cents' worth.

[PANurseRN1]

Join the specialty organization that represents the area you work in. If the CNA is not in your state, join as an associate member.

I think of the ANA much like the "Empire" in Star Wars.

[medsurgnurse, RN]

ANA doesn't faithfully represent all nurses - not even all RNs. It should be the ABSN/APNA - Amer BSN/APN Assoc. Everybody else either need not apply or apply at the risk of having YOUR place in nursing be attacked and advocated AGAINST.

Also, ANA is more interested in LEFT WING politics than nursing advocacy.

If I wanted MY money to support Hilary for Pres, I'd send her a check directly.

~faith,

Timothy.

I agree.

[rn/writer, RN]

As others have said, they strike me as out of touch with "real world" nurses. I don't like the ivory tower attitude or the political agendas.

It seems the nurses they actually represent constitute a small minority of the 2.9 million (plus LPNs). Maybe they should change their name to ATFOANNILWFTMITWOPAEAAEPANNECSRFOIINWLALAWITRW:

A Tiny Fraction Of All Nurses (Not Including LPNs) With Far Too Much In The Way Of Political Activism, Elitist Attitudes, And Exclusionary Practices, And Not Nearly Enough Common Sense, Respect For, Or Interest In, Nurses Who Live And Learn And Work In The Real World.

I still wouldn't join, but I'd give them credit for truth in advertising.

[Selke]

n[prn]Will never become a member because they are weak, ineffective, and completely out of touch with the average nurse in this country. I sometimes wonder who exactly they think they are supposed to represent. It is certainly not the bedside nurse. I applauded the California Nurses Association when they withdrew from the ANA. I think that if all of the state nurses associations did that then they might finally realize that they have had their heads up their butts for too long, and maybe they should listen to the bedside nurse for a change.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

:yeahthat:

The ANA does not represent staff nurses, the rank and file. It represents nursing management and goodness knows who else (nursing school faculty?) If I ever actually get to become a midwife I will continue to actively support staff nurses.

The CNA has launched a national nurses' association, the NNOC (National Nurses' Organizing Committee), to represent staff nurses. Some Chicago hospital nurses have left the INA and joined NNOC. Maybe more will follow CA's lead ....

http://www.calnurses.org/nnoc/about-nnoc.html

[Guest717236]

"The CNA has launched a national nurses' association, the NNOC (National Nurses' Organizing Committee), to represent staff nurses. Some Chicago hospital nurses have left the INA and joined NNOC. Maybe more will follow CA's lead ...." " I applauded the California Nurses Association

when they withdrew from the ANA."

Massachusetts Nurses Association left ANA as well in 2001

http://www.massnurses.org/News/2001/001003/mn_bodunan.htm

[SmilingBluEyes]

ANA are you reading all of this????

Here is my personal less than 2 cents:

I used to be a member, and dropped it. Due to all the above reasons. I won't belabor it. Til you represent FAIRLY ALL THE NURSES YOU SAY YOU DO WITH YOUR TITLE: ANA, then expect that many potential memberships are and will continue to be lost-----sadly, due to your stance to exclude so many as valuable nurses who contribute so much to the profession----so many lost. The old cliche is true; there is strength in pure numbers. Why exclude so many? End of story.

I hope someone from ANA sees all of this.

[PANurseRN1]

Even if they would read it, they would discount it, because you are a "lesser nurse," SBE. Not in my opinion, of course, but as far as they're considered, your POV simply doesn't matter.

They really need to be dismantled.

[gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP]

Yeah I hope they do too. I might even send it to em!

Im going to camp on it for awhile though and wait till there are a lot of responses first.

[sunnyjohn]

Way to go Gauge! This is a great thread. I sure hope someone from the ANA reads this and takes the word back.

They are scaring of the new nurses and nursing students too.