ANA: Unifying Nurses' Voices in the 20th Century - Research Paper

Introduction

At the onset of the 20th century, Nurses suffered from acute challenges, which derailed them in practicing their profession. At the time, the nurses had no accreditation frameworks, the licensing system was indefinite, and their voices not unified. The American Nurses Association was for these reasons formed in 1896. It began in an assembly of Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada at Manhattan Beach Hotel. Since 1911, it is referred to as the American Nurses Association. It currently represents interests of approximately 4 million registered nurses nationwide.

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Its reason for existence is to empower members of this noble profession to improve the standards of health disseminated to patients. The United States is among the developed countries which have a common challenge of an aging population. The developing population issue has redefined the future healthcare in that, the technical improvements have proved insufficient, and the system overstretched. Empowering nurses would, therefore, supplement the professional efforts by providing a fulcrum between technical expertise and compassionate patient care.

Public Reporting Based on Quality Indicators

Public reporting is a vital component of the nursing profession. It entails the pre-agreed publishing efficiency and quality parameters. The American Nurses Association endorses the standards.

The public reports on quality are posted and downloaded every quarter on the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators that began in 1998 (Montalvo, 2007). This database is presently run at the University of Kansas Medical Center. It relies on data submitted by registered member hospitals every quarter (Montalvo, 2007). After that, the data is put in comparison against the six American Nurses Association quality indicators. These are; Nursing Care Hours per Patient Day, Falls, Skill Mix, Hospital-Acquired Pressure Prevalence, Falls with Injury and Pressure Ulcer Prevalence (Montalvo, 2007).

Public reporting based on the quality indicators is essential because it helps in identifying deficiencies across the registered and participating facilities. More nursing staff can be deployed to the facilities with a shortage based on their expertise gaps.

Public reporting is also vital in evaluating the success of changes made. It shows whether or not there is an improvement after making the interventions are on the deficiency. It is crucial for the hospital management to be kept in the know of how the reinforced areas are faring and whether the replacements are viable. For example, lower fall rates recorded can be associated with the increasing nursing staff at a given facility.

Functions of the American Nurses Association

Standards of nursing practice are set here, education, and spells out the service range of nursing. In some instances, nurses' roles clash with the doctors'. Therefore, the American Nurses Association puts out the job descriptions. Through the six quality indicators and other mechanisms, the body is able is to define and uphold the professional standards of nursing.

It defines the ethical code of conduct for nurses. Ethics are moral standards which govern individuals in their private spheres and the work environment. Ethical behavior at the workplace defines how a nurse interacts with colleagues, both senior and junior, as well as proper handling of patients.

The body also takes part in legislation, programs, and policy development by the government. It also participates in the event of international health frameworks. The significance of its presence in these engagements is to ensure all things agreed are aligned to the nurses' best interests, and the professional input is exerted. In this sense, it protects the welfare of nurses.

Organizational Structure and Governance of the American Nurses Association

The American Nurses Association (ANA) runs a formidable governance structure which entails a lot of consultations between the governing organs. It has the membership assembly, standing board, the board of directors, and the leadership committee.

The Membership Assembly is involved in governing and doubles up as the official voting arm. It enumerates and discusses concerns facing members to accurately advise the board of directors. It collects feedback on professional issues and trends from members to present to the board. It also participates in voting in qualified members to the board.

The Board of Directors is the executive arm of the American Nurses Association. It administers the agreed policies and programs to ensure implementation. It also handles the finances of the body by implementing financial strategy, adopting a budget, financial audits, and giving financial reports to the Membership annually.

The standing committees are derived from the Membership assembly, and they stand for the following designations; by-laws, the policy as well as nominations and elections. They interpret; prepare amendments of regulations for presentation to the Membership Assembly and reporting them to the board. They receive, revisit, and forward professional policy proposition to the Membership Council. They also, get advice from the Board of Directors on the required competencies for every election, calling for nomination and allocating durations for the appointments.

The Leadership Council makes deliberations, devises strategies and gives organizational and professional counsel jointly with the Board of Directors and forward to the Membership Assembly. It also recommends required future input on policies and budget to the board and reports to the Membership Assembly.

Impact of the American Nurses Association to Patients, Nursing Practice, and Healthcare Organizations

The American Nursing Association's efforts have greatly benefited patients in health care facilities. The service quality to patients has continued to appreciate every day from the improvements effected by the body. The quality indicators have played a significant role in reducing incidents like falls in the wards, which reflects on the enhanced care by the nurses.

The nursing profession is as well positively influenced by the existence of the American Nursing Association. Through the empowerment program, the nurses have been helped to serve the patients better to achieve professional satisfaction. The Association has conducted communication sensitization through an affiliate organization, the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) to make patient handoff effective (Trossman, 2019). The nurses can effectively communicate about patients' needs as they hand them over to different teams.

The American Nursing Association has forged a collaborative framework across health organization geared towards improving the status of patient care. Through the association, the health organization offering nursing services have come together to contribute information for the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators to help one another to better patient care.

American Nursing Association, as a regulatory body has been a cross-century mirror of quality nursing. It has extensively succeeded in bringing order into the profession and facilitating nurses to deliver their best. It is enough proof for the necessity of an established body to organize professionals within a country for the welfare of all stakeholders.

References

Montalvo, I. (2007). The National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing.

Trossman, S., (2019). Nurses help lead efforts on safe patient handoffs and transfers. American Nurse Today.