Nurse Practitioners and Health

Professional Association

Joining a professional association is crucial for nurse practitioners (NPs). It enables NPs to remain abreast with trends in their field of practice, access a network of peers, and expand professional networks. Joining a professional association is also important for certification, career assistance, as well as getting free or discounted rates for annual conventions, journal articles, and educational materials. Indeed, joining a professional association is essential for NP professional growth and development.

One professional organization a NP may join is the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). The organization was formed in 2013 following the merger of the American College of Nurse Practitioners (established in 1995) and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (established in 1985). AANP is the largest professional organization for NP in the U.S., bringing together over 222,000 NPs from all nursing specialties (AANP, n.d.). The mission of the organization is to bring NPs together and empower them to advance care quality through practice, education, research, advocacy, and leadership. AANP is open for membership for undergraduate students, graduate students, practicing nurses, and retired NPs. To join the organization, one can fill in their details online or visit its nearby offices. For the NP category, ANNP requires applicants to have successfully completed a NP program and/or have a NP certification from a nationally accredited body. Membership for NPs cost is $135 annually (AANP, n.d.).

AANP membership gives NPs free access to the organization's continuing education (CE) center, discounted rates for AANP annual conferences, discounted rates for AANP certification, lower rates for health and professional liability insurance, as well as access to job and scholarship opportunities. Access to continuing education is a particularly important benefit of joining AANP. AANP's CE Center offers a variety of AANP-accredited programs, including NP Certification Review Courses, Commercial Driver Medical Examiner Home Study Course, and CMV Examiner Training Program. The courses cover a wide range of disciplines including cardiology, acute care, endocrinology, respiratory care, pharmacology, emergency care, immunology, dermatology, geriatrics, health promotion, health policy, primary care, neurology, oncology, pediatrics, and orthopedics.

ANNP is also involved in political lobbying. The organization particularly advocates for the recognition of NPs as providers of quality, safe, effective, and patient-centered care. It serves as a voice for NPs on policy issues affecting them such as patient safety, health care reform, licensure, access to care, and reimbursement. For instance, the organization is presently supporting a bill aimed at allowing Medicare beneficiaries who receive primary care from NPs to be assigned to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The organization is also rallying legislators to pass legislation aimed at allowing NPs to expand home care to Medicare patients. Further, the organization has been lobbying Congress to ensure patient-centered health care reform legislation, introduce legislation allowing NPs to approve their patient's need for diabetic shoes, and to recognize NPs as providers of high quality care.