Why don't nurses join the ANA?

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  1. Why don't you join (or won't you renew in) the ANA?

    • 84
      It's costs too much
    • 67
      I dont agree with the ANA's political agendas
    • 46
      They don't represent my level of nursing
    • 17
      I belong to specialty nursing organization and thats enough
    • 11
      Other - please state

102 members have participated

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

Don't forget the Poll at the top!

Specializes in Critical Care.

AACN takes stances on family visitation and family presence at codes about which I disagree.

I am, nevertheless, a member.

They don't have to take EVERY stand or hold every belief I hold for me to be a member. BUT their stands should at least be nursing related.

AND AACN will take you as a member whether you work in critical care or not.

~faith,

Timothy.

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AACN takes stances on family visitation and family presence at codes about which I disagree.

I am, nevertheless, a member.

They don't have to take EVERY stand or hold every belief I hold for me to be a member. BUT their stands should at least be nursing related.

AND AACN will take you as a member whether you work in critical care or not.

~faith,

Timothy.

I'm a member too. Was as an LVN.

The AACN wimps out on staffing IMO but they are great on critical care education!

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Specializes in ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

Does AACN lobby for healthcare policy changes or do they contribute to ANA's PAC or some other PAC to do that? It would be interesting know what associations lobby vs what associations contribute to PACs - and which ones - to do thier lobbying.

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Do you all think that the ANA is what is behind the efforts to the eventual demise of the LPN position?

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
Do you all think that the ANA is what is behind the efforts to the eventual demise of the LPN position?

Oh yeah. :stone

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Do you all think that the ANA is what is behind the efforts to the eventual demise of the LPN position?

They sure dont work to keep licensed nurses at the bedside.

Hospitals would rather save $$$ than pay an LVN if they can get away with an unlicensed worker.

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

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 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?

I agree with all of the above. They aren't getting my money for their political causes- I can do my own political contributions for what I think is important, thank you very much. I once had an instructor who was president of the local chapter of the state association, affiliated with ANA, and her views were so different from mine, I thought she was from an alternate universe. She was, I think, pretty typical of ANA.

And for what it's worth, I'm an APRN with a Master's degree and I don't think they represent me, either.

Interestingly, when the role of Nurse Practitioner was first proposed, ANA was opposed to it.

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
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.

AMEN!! :nurse:

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Specializes in Med Surg, Telemetry, Orthopedics.

What exactly has the ANA done for nursing besides keep us in the 1950s? Studies on the nursing shortage? (Big Whoop!) Put their thumb down on LPN's? (Oh, that will help matters!)

Oh, that's right! They pander to administration by supporting the hospitals!:barf02:

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And for what it's worth, I'm an APRN with a Master's degree and I don't think they represent me, either.

Interestingly, when the role of Nurse Practitioner was first proposed, ANA was opposed to it.

Really? I never knew that. Wow. When did they oppose APRNs and what was their rationale? What is their position on APRNs now? Do APRNs have their own umbrella professional organization, or according to specialty?

Maybe APRNs, like midwives, need to completely break away from nursing's umbrella and create their own professional identities. Midwives could do this easily as they weren't a part of nursing until the artifical creation of the CNM nearly 100 years ago (and join forces with MANA and CPMs). Midwives can just reclaim their historical roots. But not so sure about APRNs.

The ANA was created for a purpose. I wonder what exactly their original purpose was (the politics behind it) and if they have strayed from that course (I know nothing of their history which is why I pose this question).

Isn't the National League of Nursing supposed to represent all types of RNs? Including LPNs?

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Specializes in ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

Really? I never knew that. Wow. When did they oppose APRNs and what was their rationale? What is their position on APRNs now? Do APRNs have their own umbrella professional organization, or according to specialty?

Maybe APRNs, like midwives, need to completely break away from nursing's umbrella and create their own professional identities. Midwives could do this easily as they weren't a part of nursing until the artifical creation of the CNM nearly 100 years ago (and join forces with MANA and CPMs). Midwives can just reclaim their historical roots. But not so sure about APRNs.

The ANA was created for a purpose. I wonder what exactly their original purpose was (the politics behind it) and if they have strayed from that course (I know nothing of their history which is why I pose this question).

Isn't the National League of Nursing supposed to represent all types of RNs? Including LPNs?

I know people belong to specialty orgs like critical care, geriatric, NP, neonatal etc - but most of those organizations DO NOT LOBBY. They are for education and they serve to develop practice in those specialties - very very worthwhile indeed, but they do not lobby. Despite membership in a specialty org, we still need an organization that lobbies for patient advocact and nursing issues. And every nurse - no matter what their title or license should belong. The American Medical Assc is very powerful because:

1. About 75% of physcians are members (Presently we have no National united organization that represents ALL levels of ALL nurses - think of the numbers that would be)

2. They believe that being active - or even just sending a check - to their professional org works/matters - and it does! The AMA does a lot of lobbying and is an effective (even if overreaching and self serving at times) organization. It does what doctors expect it to do - protect the interests of doctors. Now aint that a concept?

Yes NP's have their own organization - the AANP - among many other specialty orgs - but - wouldnt it be terrific if we could all join together to support EACH OTHER? Think of the difference 1,000,000 nurses writing to their reps would make - versus 30,000 NP's writing to their reps. Think of a million nurses in support of LVN's, RN's...Nurses are innovative and creative - we just are not good at using that innovation and creation to fix what's wrong with nursing!

We really have no idea of what we have here...The voice of nursing is one of the largest untapped icebergs in health policy. If we ever actually stand up and do it - then every health institution in the US and across the globe will be affected. We have gotten where we are because we havn't chosen anything else. Maybe it's time.

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I know people belong to specialty orgs like critical care, geriatric, NP, neonatal etc - but most of those organizations DO NOT LOBBY. They are for education and they serve to develop practice in those specialties - very very worthwhile indeed, but they do not lobby....

Yes NP's have their own organization - the AANP - among many other specialty orgs - but - wouldnt it be terrific if we could all join together to support EACH OTHER? Think of the difference 1,000,000 nurses writing to their reps would make - versus 30,000 NP's writing to their reps. Think of a million nurses in support of LVN's, RN's...Nurses are innovative and creative - we just are not good at using that innovation and creation to fix what's wrong with nursing!

We really have no idea of what we have here...The voice of nursing is one of the largest untapped icebergs in health policy. If we ever actually stand up and do it - then every health institution in the US and across the globe will be affected. We have gotten where we are because we havn't chosen anything else. Maybe it's time.

:yeahthat:

I've wondered the same thing, that nurses of every stripe are the largest single workforce in the health care world and what power would be unleashed if they all got their s**t together and joined forces? I think that's why management and the system feed into dysfunctional workplace and female-dominated profession bullying behavior, and have historically enforced submissive female gender roles on nursing students, in order to keep them from finding their collective power. The only nursing organizations I recall taking political action to support patient rights, safety, &c, and quality of care, as well as workplace issues, are nursing unions. Certainly NOT the ANA!!!! The ANA still spouts this same tripe! You know that historically the leaders of the newly forming profession of nursing in the last century had an opportunity to join with the new labor union movement, but that they chose not to, stating that "nursing is a profession" and unionization is beneath it and beneath its mission of caring? I can just hear them saying, "but we are LADIES not wage slaves!" Bulls**t. Professional nursing organizations, pushing the idea that nursing gives emotional over financial rewards, have been selling us down the pike ever since. But maybe nursing is shedding some of its historical female gender roles (nurse as mother, submissive wife to the Doctor, follows orders, &c), as more and more second career people, older women, and men, who have experience in other professions without those handicaps, get into it. Fewer and fewer young women have been have been indoctrinated to be "nice girls." Maybe some of these antiquated views will change and more and more nurses will find their political muscle and voice in the workplace.

There are socioeconomic issues lurking behind empowering nurses. Has anybody done a demographic study of who nurses are? (I'm including RNs of every educational pathway, LPNs, CNAs too) Gender, age, single parent, supporting other people such as elderly parents, hours worked, do they have health insurance for their families, wage, &c? I think there are a LOT of single mothers out there who are nurses barely getting by, working horrible shifts, and long hours to avoid paying child care, to keep a roof over their families' heads, &c. Political empowerment would lift up this group of women conveniently ignored by academic and mainstream feminists, who ignore the situation of working class to lower middle class women.

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