I don't belong to the ANA. I do belong to NNOC, the National Nurses Organizing Committee because I like their activism for both nurses and patients. It is easy to get pulled into a lot of organizations, I guess I look for those that seem most pertinent: GSA,the Gerontological Society of America and HPNA, the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association

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magic is the deliberate manipulation of coincidence

I don't belong to the ANA. I'm just not one for nurse politics/activism. I'm not sure what they do that contributes to our profession anyway. Here's an example:

I work for a "Magnet" hospital. This is designation that the ANA gives to certain hospitals for being "nurse-friendly." So this "Magnet" hospital that I work for demands that nurses come in on their days off and scrub toilets and take out the trash if and when the service workers go on strike. Granted, this might only happen once every ten years, but still... How "nurse-friendly" is that?

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Ha! "Magnet Hospital" is a designer label created by the ANA as a way of making money for their organization. Frankly, I think that it's a scam.

MJ

I take it that the ANA is your union body. I belong to both the State and Federal nursing groups (and I get student rates for both). With need to provide evidence of continual learning it is easier to do the activities and read the material provided by them then to find my own.
You can't expect the ANA to support your views if you do not let them know that your views are. If all nurses have this attitude it is no wonder no one is a member, if you all join they will have to support the common view which could be yours. We have just had our State nurses go on strike for a pay rise. This was negotiated with the ANF (our union), members were invited to vote of each stage of the action and in the end nurses started to close beds in the hospitals. We got our pay rise. But not all nurses agreed with the action and they were heard by the group and the action taken was changed to try and accomidate their concerns.

But its a bit of 'together we concur, divided we fall'.

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'Think not of yourself as the architect of your career but as the sculptor. Expect to have to do a lot of hard hammering and chiselingand scraping and polishing. - BC Forbes'

That's pretty impressive - maybe she'll be the one who discovers the cure!!! I knew I wanted to be a nurse at 16, but I was more interested in cheerleading at the time.

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The ER is the only place where you are rewarded for efficiency by getting more patients!

Kim
http://www.emergiblog.com

OK, MJ. And thanks.

Joy

When I first became a nurse, the California Nurses Association membership automatically made you a member of the American Nurses Association. Then, CNA split from ANA and I have not been a member since.

It was always my impression that the ANA was made up of hoity-toity old gray-haired ladies who had not touched a bedpan in years and could care less about the nurse at the bedside.

Now, having a few gray hairs myself, I'm pretty sure it's not true.

I really should do some research on where they stand these days on issues and update my rather insulting impression.

On a day-to-day basis, you cannot beat the Emergency Nurses Association for actual "use this at the bedside" information. JEN is THE best journal out there.

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The ER is the only place where you are rewarded for efficiency by getting more patients!

Kim
http://www.emergiblog.com

I feel your pain about having gray hair. Ha!

MJ

I just joined the ANA. For most of my nursing career I never really became too involved in the profession, but I have had a recent interest since I see a lot of frustrating things about health care and nursing in general. So many of the nursing blogs I see are those from very frustrated unhappy nurses. There are certainly a lot of issues out there, and I feel I don't have room to complain if I don't attempt to be part of the solution. I figured at the least I would join my professional organiztion--if they are the ones lobbying for us, I want them to at least hear what I have to say. The doc's have the AMA and the NP's have their professional groups, and they have been able to accomplish some things. We are unfortunately a fragmented group--different education levels, different work areas, but the unfortunate unifying factor seems to be that frustration. Maybe we are the ones who can change that! (?) Babyboomer

I glad to see someone who wants to become a part of the solution. I have one bite of advice for you now that you are a member of the ANA. Follow their political activities closely. They are advocating for workplace reform--which is a good thing--but they are not working to promote the Office of the National Nurse. The office would promote public health while raising the profile of nursing on par with the Surgeon General. I no longer belong to the ANA because they stopped representing my interests on Capitol Hill.

Congratulations on your decision to become active within our profession.


MJ

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