Nursing Organizations: Working Together to Improve Nursing .
Professional nursing organizations exist to provide information, support, leadership, scholarship, and avenues for change for the profession of nursing. Four important organizations are American Nurses Association (ANA), New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), National League for Nursing (NLN), and the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Each of these organizations has specific goals and plans for the nursing profession.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a wonderful organization located in Washington, DC. The ANA has over 180,000 members. The members consist of registered nurses that want to make a difference in their profession. The mission of the ANA is to "work for the improvement of health standards and availability of health care services for all people, foster high standards for nursing, stimulate and promote the professional development of nurses, and advance their economic and general welfare"(ANA, 2003). The ANA represents the interests of America's 2.6 million registered nurses. The ANA has fifty-four constituent state and territorial associations. Twenty-four of the fifty-four serve as collective bargaining agents for nurses. The ANA is the strongest labor union for the nursing profession. The ANA works to make a difference in healthcare issues by lobbying the congress and other regulatory agencies. .
One unique feature of the ANA is its ability to lobby legislatures and public officials to make a difference. Healthcare reform is one of the ANAs specialties. They have already made major changes in the healthcare system and are working on so many more. One issue that the ANA took a strong stand on was safer needle stick devices. They felt that too many needle stick injuries were happening during health care delivery. Thanks to their efforts it is mandatory to have retractable needle devices available.