Please answer to the following DQ’s with 150-200 words each . Thank you
Kelly:
Although the list of professional nursing organizations is extensive, and covers so much ground, it was easy for me to choose the three that interest me most. The American Nurses Association (ANA), The Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA), and the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) are the three that pertain most to my work and have an effect on the work that I do everyday, and most interest me.
The ANA represents over 4 million registered nurses in the United States. ANA works to improve health care through nursing, and is the strongest advocate for nurses in the nation. The ANA promotes and provides resources for career development as well as lobbying with Congress to discuss issues regarding nurses. Some of the issues that ANA has taken a strong position on have included: Medicare reform; staffing; workplace violence; protection of whistleblowers; and reimbursement for health care services. ANA also pays extra attention to nurse wellbeing and self-care (American Nurses Association).
The HPNA is the organization I am most aligned with as this is my area of expertise. The mission and vision of HPNA is to advance expert care in the case of serious illness and to transform the care and culture of serious illness through education, competence, advocacy, leadership and research. HPNA came to be in 1986. It is the national professional organization representing palliative and hospice nurses. They provide educational programs as well as research initiatives and advocacy for interested nurse members. HPNA is a nonprofit organization and they provide professional development opportunities to hospice and palliative care team members (Advanced Solutions International).
The third and final professional nursing organization that interests me is the Oncology Nursing Society. The ONS has a mission and vision to advance excellence in oncology nursing and transform cancer care. The organization works with nurses to help ensure the quality of life of cancer patients and to see that they have everything they need throughout the continuum of their lives (Oncology Nursing Society).
All of these organizations are in direct alignment with my goals and world view. My goals are always led by my desire to better serve the hospice and palliative population in a holistic way, including the mind, body and spirit.
References
Advanced Solutions International, I. (n.d.). Home. https://hpna.advancingexpertcare.org/.
American Nurses Association. ANA. (n.d.). https://www.nursingworld.org/ana/
Oncology Nursing Society. (n.d.). https://www.ons.org/
Sara I:
As I have researched professional organizations that nurses can be a part of, I recognized there were so many amazing organizations that I didn’t know even existed. Several stood out to me. This last year has been an eye-opening experience to say the least. We have seen how a virus could turn an entire world upside down and cause everyone to live differently and learn about things we have never had to. We have seen racial inequality and injustices and people step up to the plate to battle these issues. That is why I am choosing the three organizations I have. This year has opened my eyes to problems in our society and made me want to be a better citizen and use my knowledge and education to help the society be a better place. The first organization I stumbled across was the National Black Nurses Association. This Association is aimed specifically at promoting African American women in the profession of nursing. I think it would be amazing to learn more about this organization so that I could better understand the struggles they face and what I can do to assist this community. According to Hendricks et al. (2020), equal access in all educational opportunities is a basic human right. Going along with this organization, is the American Academy of Nursing. This organization is aimed at improving health through leadership and science with a specific focus on violence and race (Cant & Levett-Jones, 2021). The AAN specifically looks at hoe racism and inequality negatively exacerbate health problems in these communities. I want to learn more about the health disparities of these populations so I can help improve the outcomes for them. The last organization I learned about is the National Student Nurses’ Association. This group is aimed specifically at mentoring new nursing graduates during their first year as a Registered Nurse. Students can search out mentors who have experience in the field of nursing. This is a great resource for new nurses. As a nurse educator, I would love to be part of all of these organizations because it will assist me in being a better advocate for each of my student’s, regardless of race, background, sex, financial status, and religious background. The most important thing to me is to be a tool in the hand of God, I can only do that if I love my fellowman the way he does. All of these organizations can assist me in learning to love those who are different than me.
References
Cant, R., & Levett-Jones, T. (2021). Umbrella review: Impact of registered nurses’ continuing professional education informed by contemporary reviews of literature. Nurse Education in Practice, 50, 102945. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2020.102945
Hendricks-Sturrup, R. M., Edgar, L. M., Johnson-Glover, T., & Lu, C. Y. (2020). Exploring African American community perspectives about genomic medicine research: A literature review. SAGE Open Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050312120901740
Sara II:
I think we can all agree that one of the biggest political issues this year has been regarding mask mandates. Six days ago, The Idaho House passed a bill banning governments from mandating the wearing of face masks. Up to this point in my state, the government has had a mask mandate stating that in any public building, a mask was required. After this bill was passed, the government can’t regulate this. I feel excited about this because I feel like this is a sign we are moving back to normal life again. This also gives me anxiety as a nurse. When this all began, the mask mandates and social distancing were put in place to ‘flatten the curve’. Flattening the curve was the goal to assist healthcare workers with the hope that if we could lessen the hit all at once, the healthcare system wouldn’t be overwhelmed, and we could handle the disease in the hospital setting (Brooks & Butler, 2021). Requiring mask wearing, particularly indoors, has been essential for workers’ rights to safety and well-being as we have waited for the pandemic to resolve (Vuolo et al., 2020). Even with these mandates in place, there were several months that our hospital was hit very hard, and we were overloaded and overtaxed. I am worried that this is going to happen again without these mandates in place. How we respond to infections and the spread of new diseases we know nothing about is going to be a problem those in healthcare need to be ready to face at any given time. These times have been so unprecedented, and I feel that we were so ill prepared for it. I think this experience really opened our eyes in healthcare to realize we need to be better prepared. I think this can positively affect healthcare professionals because we can learn from our mistakes and ensure it doesn’t happen again or that next time this does happen, we are better prepared with things such as equipment, extra staff, and better coping tools. I hope to always be an active participant in my community on educating the public on different diseases and health issues and teaching them ways to better their own lives and those around them. It will be interesting to see what happens with this mandate being banned. Part of me fears we will see a massive uptick in cases of Covid again and that our hospital is going to be overtaxed again but part of me is also hopeful that we can return to a normal society again and it gives me hope that we can take on new diseases and when things like this happen in the future again, we will be prepared.
References
Brooks, J., Butler, J. (2021). Effectiveness of mask wearing to control community spread of SARS-CoV-2. JAMA.2021;325(10):998–999. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.1505
Vuolo, M., Kelly, B. C., & Roscigno, V. J. (2020). COVID-19 mask requirements as a workers’ rights issue: Parallels to smoking bans. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 59(5), 764–767. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2020.07.001
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