Nursing Organizations Their Importance and Influence

Nursing organizations have a tremendous impact on the profession and on the good of society. When nurses begin their practice after graduation, many of them are well aware that they are responsible for their own professional development. Joining a nursing organization is the best way to dedicate oneself seriously and realistically to one’s professional development since these entities have such a strong focus on continuing education and shaping society for the better. Nursing organizations are able to critically impact the profession because of the unity they create among professionals. Nursing organizations creates a system of membership and camaraderie that offers nurses a continual education, opportunities for certification, and role-related skill-building along with educational gatherings and programs (Schneider, 2015). Part of the reason that nursing organizations are so crucial is because healthcare is constantly in flux. There are daily updates and changes that occur in this arena and the nursing profession is largely able to keep up with them when they organize in this manner. One of the biggest challenges as a professional nurse is being able to keep up with the all the developments in evidence based research. Nurses have such demanding schedules daily. It isn’t always humanly possible for them to read studies and entire journals when they are done with work for the day. When nurses align with reputable nursing organizations that support or focus on one’s area of specialty, this pushes nurses to the forefront of all relevant nursing changes in practice. It makes the professional stronger and allows patients to receive a higher level of care.
Joining a nursing organization that is centered in one’s arena of practice means that one will have a front row seat to relevant continuing education opportunities. Furthermore, the opportunities to go to conferences is essential. Conferences gather nurses together from all over the nation allowing them to share practices, tips and findings that are relevant and that advance the practice of nursing as whole. Nursing organizations can be powerful in getting their voices and platforms heard, by virtue of their large size and influence. As a result of the fact that nurses are on the front lines of patient care, they often have a very specific understanding of the unique needs or issues that need to be adjusted in order to ensure that health care outcomes improve. Hence when they seek to influence policy in order to improve the good of the nation and the people in it, they can do so with greater success as an entire nursing organization. Advocacy is a tremendously large part of the nursing field. Nurses have to constantly advocate for the people and issues around them: for patients, for the field, and for aggravated areas of concern. As one professional nurse and leader in the community writes, “Our advocacy, motivated by moral and ethical principles, seeks to influence policies by pleading or arguing within political, economic, and social systems, and also institutions, for an idea or cause that can lead to decisions in resource allocation that promote nurses, nursing, and all of healthcare” (Matthews, 2012). This is so crucial as it demonstrates how nursing organizations can have a very real and discernible impact on the course and manifestation of the entire healthcare arena.
One of the very obvious and important ways that nursing organizations impact the profession is in the power of the alliances that they form. Every specialty nursing organization helps to advocate for nurses as their organizational objectives directly connect to members, their needs, their areas of focus and their standards of practice. One of the major ways that these organizations can help to influence and improve the profession as a whole is by the ways in which they benefit the public. “Many specialty organizations, and their members, educate the public, policy makers, healthcare administrators, and professionals on specific issues. Nursing organizations are cognizant of the power of unity and engage in collaborative ventures with other nursing and health-related professional organizations when appropriate” (Matthews, 2012). These alliances and the influence they wield can be immensely influential on methods and standards of practice and be precisely what is needed to ensure that the level of care is elevated. This helps to streamline the overall strategies of nursing so that the profession as a whole reaches a more elite level of excellence.  
Without nursing organizations, it can be too easy for nurses to fall into the trap of thinking that their only job is to provide care to patients, when in reality each nurse has an enormous potential to influence policy and the overall direction of the profession and the “bigger picture” (Catallo et al., 2014). For nurses, the have a duty to be aware of the factors that influence how healthcare services are created and disseminated and how policies are developed and adjusted. Without nursing organizations, nurses can too easily not understand how they can inform and influence dialogues around health care services organization and delivery and view this largely as the responsibility of those “higher up from them” (Catallo et al., 2014). Professional nursing organizations are able to help nurses develop their knowledge and skills in influencing political decision makers and in grasping the overall policy process (Catallo et al., 2014). Nursing organizations have the power to essentially take nurses under their greater “wings” and show nurses that regardless of their area of specialty, they can be proactive in influencing healthcare policy to positively influence the profession and the overall health of nation’s people (Catallo et al., 2014).
It’s important to acknowledge that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) often align themselves with nursing organizations when they seek to push forward a new method or protocol, or a change they would like to see in the arena of professional healthcare. Sometimes these partnerships occur when there is a new method or campaign or arena of awareness that nursing organizations would like to promote. For example, the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) recently joined forces with the CDC in a campaign to reduce the number of kids that get the flu each year. The movement was called “Fighting the Flu Happens at School!” and it was in part to encourage more kids to partake in the flue vaccines that are offered each year. The CDC and the NASN were able to develop this initiative through working together after reviewing a host of literature and a national sampling of school nurses via both survey and group testing (cdc.gov). Many of the recommendations that were put forth during this campaign included a host of resources from a range of immunization associates, such as the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, Childhood Influenza Coalition, the Immunization Action Coalition, among others. This is just one example of how nursing organizations can impact the health policies in place to safeguard patient safety, bolster the level of quality of care and ensure a greater ease of access of the required resources to improve health care.
Nursing organizations represent unity, alliances, influence and strength in numbers. Most recently, the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the CDC have formed an alliance to develop the Nursing Infection Control Education (NICE) Network. The NICE network is composed of individuals from a range of over 20 specialty nursing organizations that have their own partnerships with ANA in collaboration with empowering nurses to shield themselves and the people under their care from infections of all kind (Morgan, 2017). “Members will work together to develop infection prevention and control training materials which will assist nurses with how to handle and contain emerging infectious diseases including Ebola and Zika virus” (Morgan, 2017). This alliance will work also on preventing emerging infections and resent infections such as SARS, H1N1 and the West Nile virus. The very fact that these diseases even exist demonstrate how vital it is for healthcare providers to have actionable resources in place to spot these diseases and the treat the ones that exhibit antibiotic resistance (Morgan, 2017). Hence in this day and age, nursing organizations have the power to align with very powerful entities like the CDC and WHO to stop the spread of truly devastating diseases.
In conclusion, the influence and power of nursing organizations cannot be underestimated. Nursing organizations exist to unite all professionals in the field under one umbrella and on the cellular level. On a cellular level, nursing organizations can also offer a single focus, connecting nurses of one particular specialty together so they stay in touch regarding the top updates and developments in their field. Nursing organizations mean that alliances can be formed in order to have greater impact on policy and public health. Nursing organizations can join forces with truly powerful entities like the CDC and the WHO as a means of transforming standard protocols or raising awareness about a public health issue. Nursing organizations give the average nurse a safe place to develop professionally, under the guidance and influence of individuals who have risen to the top of their fields. When nurses join professional organizations they are helping to fortify their profession in the present and future.





















References
Catallo, C., Spalding, K., & Haghiri-Vijeh, R. (2014). Nursing Professional Organizations. SAGE Open, 4(4), 215824401456053. doi:10.1177/2158244014560534
CDC.gov. (2012, December 6). National Association of School Nurses (NASN) Campaign Resources | Seasonal Influenza (Flu) | CDC. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/flu/resource-center/partners/success-stories/success-nasn-nurses.htm
Matthews, J. H. (2012, January). Role of Professional Organizations in Advocating for the Nursing Profession. Retrieved from http://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-17-2012/No1-Jan-2012/Professional-Organizations-and-Advocating.html
Morgan, C. (2017, February 14). American Nurses Association and CDC Announce Partnership to Improve Infection Prevention Education for Nurses. Retrieved from https://dailynurse.com/american-nurses-association-cdc-announce-partnership-improve-infection-prevention-education-nurses/
Schneider, A. (2015). Nursing Organizations: The Role they Play in Professional Development. Retrieved from https://www.rn.com/nursing-organizations-the-role-they-play-in-professional-development/