The American Nurses Association is a far-reaching professional organization representing the nation's 2.7 million Registered Nurses (RNs) through its 54 constituent member associations. Those member associations include chapters in all fifty states, through which most nurses become affiliated with the organization. There are some, but not all, states where nurses can hold dual memberships in both the state affiliate and the national organization. Access to many of the ANA’s member services is available through state membership in any case.
The American Nurses Association on Capitol Hill
The ANA “advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.”
All of these goals come together in the ANA’s efforts on Capitol Hill to lobby Congress for enactment of the Quality Nursing Care Act put forth in 2005. The bill was a bipartisan introduction in the house; in the Senate Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii introduced the bill.
The proposed legislation incorporates ANA's Principles for Nurse Staffing. It mandates the development of staffing systems that require the input of direct-care RNs, and provides whistle-blower protections for RNs who speak out about patient care issues, including inadequate levels of nurse staffing.
Another key provision of the bill requires public reporting of staffing information. Under this mandate, hospitals would be required to post daily the number of licensed and unlicensed staff providing direct patient care on each unit and each shift, while specifically noting the number of RNs.
A similar bill has been passed in Oregon, and regulations put in place in Texas. The underlying intent here is mandating adequate levels of staffing in medical facilities. The term “adequate” is subject to interpretation, but there is a large body of evidence – completed studies – that make clear the relationship between higher patient mortality and extended hospital stays to staffing levels. More RNs equal fewer deaths, quicker recoveries and shorter hospital stays.
Continuing Education and Publications
The ANA publishes three periodicals and an online version of one of them. They have a national credentialing program that is unrelated to the national certification exam which is administered by the Nursing Boards in each of the fifty states. They maintain a library on their website as well as a bookstore that can be found at www.nursesbooks.org. Their printed resources, their commitment to continuing education and their inclusion of nurses ethics in so many of the initiatives that they undertake speaks to the importance that the ANA attaches to the credibility of its member professionals. Launching just recently in March of 2006 is their latest periodical, American Nurse Today.
The question of adequate staffing levels for registered nurses is part of a larger set of issues pertaining to the quality of health care that has evolved – or devolved, depending on your viewpoint – with the ascendancy of managed care. It is to the credit of the American Nurses Association that they have been dispassionate, articulate, and energetic in making their position known and in providing irrefutable empirical evidence that supports their call for quality nursing.
