Role of Organizations in the Profession of Nursing - Research Paper Example

? Role of Organizations in the Profession of Nursing Nursing is a rewarding challenge in the increasingly diverse society and medical setting. Health care organisations play vital role in creating and developing a good pool of potential nursing staffs and other individuals. The American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) has been serving the interests of its members since 1969. The AACN keeps good relationship with the Federal Government and other national institutions in order to effectively meet the healthcare interests of its member groups. The organization mainly intends to educate the nurses who work in newly developed intensive care units. This paper will analyze the overall strategies, healthcare initiatives, organizational structure, and demographics of the AACN in detail. AACN: mission and vision American Association of Critical Care Nurses is the world’s largest specialty nursing organization, which represents the interests of more than 500,000 nurses who vehemently work toward the objective of providing care for acutely ill patients. The essence of the AACN mission statement is that “AACN drives excellence because nothing less is acceptable”. At the same time, its vision statement reflects that “AACN is dedicated to creating a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and families where acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution” (Ebright , 2010). I choose the AACN for this assignment because the organization exemplarily operates its critical care and it has won many awards for its excellence including The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. Membership requirements The AACN offers six various membership options including active membership, affiliate membership, student membership, emeritus membership, international digital membership, and retired or disabled membership. The membership requirements are different for different options. The annual subscription rate also varies in accordance with the type of membership option chosen. History and demographics The AACN was established in 1969 and the first intensive care units (ICUs) were introduced in 1950s with intent to provide improved care to critically ill patients. The improved technological applications have assisted the AACN to place itself on the world’s top position. Presently the organization has the power of over 80,000 members. The AACN members include 89% male and 11%female. Similarly, Caucasians constitute 78% of the AACN members. The current trend shows that the member strength of the organization increases day by day. Priority agenda items The AACN website says that “our patients, our nurses, our units” are the main priorities of organization. The scope of the AACN is to provide quality healthcare to its members by establishing a sustainable and healthy worksite environment. The AACN encourages effective leadership so as to promote worksite environments, which are “respectful, healing, and humane” (American Association of Critical- Care Nurses, 2011). The AACN works with other organizations to vie with common nursing care issues and establish a professional nursing practice. The modern trends indicate that the organization gives great emphasis on ambulatory care centers by employing more nurses in this sector. The increased vacancy rate of AACN indicates that the organization will suffer troublesome nurse shortage issues in the coming years unless it recruits adequate nursing staff immediately. Hence, the AACN has recently implemented a variety of programs for meeting its nurse staffing requirements. The main focus of the organizations is to meet the needs of its members whose family includes individuals who are acutely and critically ill. In addition, the AACN specifically emphasizes and advances nursing education through technology as the organization greatly promotes patient safety and improved care. Likewise, the organisation offers extensive payment concessions to its existing members, who completed a specific membership period, in order to retain them. Healthy work environments The complexity of nursing work was widely discussed when the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported an alarming rate of medical errors in 2000. As a response to this report, a number of investigations were conducted to identify the root causes of this issue. Many of such studies pointed that improper nursing education was the main factor contributing to medical errors. In addition, some medical practitioners argued that an unhealthy workplace environment often leads to issues such as medical errors. To illustrate; when healthcares largely employ inefficient and inexperienced nurses to meet the shortage of nursing staff, it increases the risk for errors and thereby compromises the patient safety. In order to deal with such issues, the AACN has taken initiative to build up healthy work environments. According to Ebright (2010), through the healthy work environment initiative, the organization enlightens nurses, nurse employers, and the nursing profession about the significance of working together to improve the quality of environments in which the nurses work. According to AACN, the nursing staff must be well trained to effectively perform their complex cognitive work including the elements of organizing, prioritizing, and decision making as the concept of cognitive work plays a crucial role in establishing a healthy worksite environment. In the words of Ebright (2010), the organization also reflects that it is essential to pay specific attention to the invisible cognitive work of nurses in order to achieve the aimed outcomes of healthy work environments, such as patient safety, quality care, and nurse recruitment and retention. As part of this initiative, the AACN closely watches how the Registered Nurses respond to situations in the context of actual care delivery so as to design processes, environments, and technologies that reduce the complexity of RN cognitive work. Continuing education is one of the most important methods recommended by the AACN to improve the quality of work environments. In addition, the AACN publishes a number magazines and journals periodically with intent to enlighten the nursing staff about the major ingredients of a healthy work environment. In total, this initiative has the potential to broaden the scope of nursing and increase the quality of practice standards. Impact of AACN on nursing professionalism The well planned and executed operations of the AACN have played a significant role in improving the standards of nursing professionalism. It seems that the organization has designed a comprehensive framework for nurse recruitment and it adds value to patient safety and quality care. It is obvious that the organization greatly values patient safety and hence it specifically emphasizes on the ethical standards of nursing. The stringent policies of the AACN have greatly contributed to the credibility of the nursing profession. From the above sessions, it is very clear that the organization continuously strives to reduce the complexity of nursing work and thereby medical errors and ultimately to establish healthy work environments. The organization periodically provides Continuing Professional Development Scholarships so as to encourage nurses and promote its operational standards. The AACN believes that the preservation of human rights is the most important function of any healthcare setting and it has formed a wide range of policies to carry out this function effectively. References American Association of Critical- Care Nurses. (2011). Family Visitation in the Adult ICU. Retrieved from http://www.aacn.org/wd/practice/content/practice%20alerts/family-visitation-icu-practice-alert.pcms?menu=practice Ebright, P. R. (2010). The Complex Work of RNs: Implications for Healthy Work Environments. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 15. Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol152010/No1Jan2010/Complex-Work-of-RNs.aspx Read More